
Book iZ>. SJZ 



E'EM.OniALS.^gSmm 




EARLY PROGRESS OF METHODISM 



EASTEEN STATES; 



COMPRISING 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF ITS PREACHERS, SKETCHES OF ITS PRIMITIVE 
CHURCHES, AND REMINISCENCES OF ITS EARLY STRUGGLES 

AND SUCCESSES. 



(SECOND SERIES.) 



BY ABEL STEVENS, 

AUTHOR OF " MEMORIALS OF THE INTRODUOTIOK OF METHODISM INTO THE EASTERN STATES," ETC. 



BOSTON: 
C. H. PEIRCE AND COMPANY. 

1852. 



lA 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1351, 

By ABEL STEYENS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



Stereotyped by 

HOBART & ROBBINS; 

NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERT, 

BOSTON. 



Press of George C. Rand, 3 Cornhill. 






PREFACE 



In a former series of these " Memorials," the author stated that the pretensions of 
the work were necessarily of the most unostentatious character. He claimed not for it 
the dignity of History, nor even that of Annals. Under the convenient name of 
Memorials, he attempted to give, with as much chronological consistency as possible, 
the scanty data, respecting the introduction of Methodism into New England, which 
still remained. These he found so vague, that he would probably have absndoned the 
undertaking in despair, had he not been publicly pledged to it. It was with much 
hesitancy that he published the volume, for he was fully conscious of the unavoidable 
inadequacy of its tribute to the good and truly great men whose names it attempted to 
rescue from oblivion. He will not dissemble that its reception has flattered and grate- 
fully surprised him. The church welcomed it as not an unworthy contribution towards 
a fuller history of the denomination, and about 10,000 copies were rapidly sold.* l^ * 7 

The present volume, relating to a more recent part of our history, will be found more 
abundant in incident, and it is hoped more satisfactory throughout. Some of its charac- 
ters, however imperfectly delineated, are examples of the truest human and Christian 
nobleness ; and it has been no small relief to the peculiar difficulties of the author's 
task, to know that his feeble labors were serving to reinstate before the eye of the 
church the heroic evangelists who founded its great and still developing destinies, but 
who, not by the want of eminent merit, but the infelicity of their times, have had 
scarcely any record in the church. 

Doubtless some readers will miss favorite names, which they expected to find in 
these pages. The author must at once, and very positively, decline all responsibility 
for any dissatisfaction on these accounts. He has made, in vain, repeated exertions to 
procure materiale for other cases. Any omissions of the kind can be repaired in 
future editions, should he be supplied with the necessary information. It must be 
borne in mind that the present is the primary record of the kind in the eastern section, 

• This success was, doubtless, owing in large measure to Charles H. Peirce, Esq., at whose sug- 
gestion the work was commenced, and whose rare taste and enterprise brought it out in a style of 
unusual elegance. 



IV PREFACE. 

of the church ; defects are, therefore, not only quite excusable, but unavoidable. The 
future historian of our cause must be responsible to repair them, by the corrections 
which their publication may elicit. 

The preceding volume was distinguished from the present as Memorials of the Intro- 
duction of Methodism into the Eastern States ; the present consists of Memorials of ita 
Progress ; the two works, while intimately related, are, nevertheless, somewhat inde- 
pendent. The introductory chapter of the latter will supply, at least, a statistical 
summary of the former, to such readers as may not have examined it ; while some addi- 
tional views, not unimportant, perhaps, to the illustration of the narrative generally, are 
also presented. 

The author designed, at first, to extend his narrative to a later date. Several reasons, 
however, occurred to change his purpose, one of which the reader will readily perceive. 
A later date would have imposed the delicate task of treating more fully of characters still 
living, and of events still vivid, not only in the memories, but in the passions, and, it may 
be, prejudices, of our people. Our denominational history must take cognizance of 
these ; but the special character of the present work seemed to render it desirable to avoid 
thera. It would indeed be incongruous to the sacred and chivalric scenes which we 
commemorate to mingle with them the prejudices of our own times. The history of 
our founders — of our heroic period — is altogether unique. It has both its chronological 
and its moral completeness ; — we have endeavored to regard both. At the same time, the 
plan of our work, though apparently quite limited, admits, in reality, of a very extended 
range. Many of the characters, and all the churches commemorated, have continued to 
our day. In their individual history, we have been able to trace down, somewhat, 
the lines of our general history, without embarrassing the narrative with the objections 
above mentioned. The apparent chronological limits of the volume are therefore not 
its real limits, and are not without considerable convenience. 

As a large portion of the work is historico-biographical, the author has endeavored to 
render its exemplifications of Christian experience as full as might be appropriate. 
Such passages are not only morally valuable, but historically so ; for they are intrinsi- 
cally historical illustrations of the spirit of the times, — much more so than are ordi- 
nary incidents. He has not disguised the peculiarities and crudities of those early 
days, many of which have now passed away ; their faithful record is essential to the 
integrity of the work. The unpretending character Of the volume has allowed him to 
introduce many scenes, and perhaps some characters, which the "dignity of history " 
might reject. It is believed the reader will find these not the least interesting illustra- 
tions of the times. His original authorities he has often allowed to speak for them- 
selves, especially in matters of fact. Ample references are given in the margin to his 
extant authorities. 

Boston, June 17, 1851. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. — Introduction. — Methodism in the last Century. — Theology of 
New England. —Ecclesiastical Institutions. — Declension of vital Religion. — 
The Methodist Ministry. — Asbury. — Lee. — Pickering. — Religious Inquiry. — 
Spirituality of Methodism. — Its Modes of Worship. —Its Hymnology, .... 9 

CHAPTER II. — Ecclesiastical Year 1800-1. —General Conference of 1800. — 
New England Conference. — Previous Conferences in New York and New Eng- 
land. — Lee a Candidate for the Episcopal Office. — He reeiiters New England. 

— Asbury and Whatcoat in New England. — General Lippet, 25 

CHAPTER III. —The New England Conference of 1800. — Lynn. — Its First 
Chapel. — The Conference. — Notices of Character. — Whatcoat. — The Roll. — 

— Clerical Celibacy. — Examination of Character. —Finances. — Success, . . 34 

CHAPTER IV. — Asbury and Whatcoat Itinerating in New England.— 
Boston. — Its First Methodist Chapel. — Waltham. — Benjamin Bemis. — Thomp- 
son, Connecticut. — Captain Jonathan NichoUs. — Asbury and Whatcoat there. 

— They advance Westward. — Quarterly Meeting on Litchfield Circuit. — Gar- 
rettson. — Mrs. Catherine Garrettson. — The Garrettson Homestead, 46 

CHAPTER v.— Lee's Travels in New England in 1800. — Interview with 
the young Church at Monmouth. — Kent's Hill. — Hampden. —Josiah Newhall. 

— Mrs. Peckett. — St. Alban's. — Philip Embury. — Review of his Labors, . . . 53 

CHAPTER VI. — Appointments and Preachers in 1800-1. —Itinerant Corps 
for the Year. — Dr. Thomas F. Sargent. — His Conversion. — Commencement of 
his IMinistry. — His Character and Death. — Joshua Wells. —Characteristics. 

— His Retirement from Public Life. — Henry Ryan. — His Appointments. — His 
Character. — Extraordinary Energy. — Enthusiasm. — Defection, 59 

CHAPTER "\ai. —Further Notices of the Preachers of 1800-1. —Hibbard. 

— His early History. — Sufferings. — His Death and Character. — Converted 
Dutchman. —Daniel Fiddler. — Freeborn Garrettson. — His Religious Experi- 
ence. — Imprisonment. — Travel. — Character. — Death, 69 

CHAPTER Mil. —Trials and Successes of lSOO-1. —Privations of the 
Ministry. — Joshua Taylor. — Epaphras Kibby. — Sufferings and Triumphs in 
Maine. — Ebenezer F. Newell. — Remarkable Reformation. — Peter Vannest in 
Vermont. — Rhode Island. — New Hampshire. — Sufferings and Successes in 
Granville Circuit. — Bostwick and Brodhead. — Numerical Results, .... 97 

CHAPTER IX. — Conferences of 1801. — Lee. — Asbury. —New York Confer- 
ence. — Lorenzo Dow. — Candidates. — Success. — New England Conference. — 
Proceedings. — Finances. — Returns. — New Appointments, 105 

CHAPTER X. — Notices op Preachers, — Samuel Merwin. — His Character. 

— Peter Moriarty. — His Early History. ^His Death. — Thomas Branch. - -De- 

1# 



VI CONTENTS. 

parturc to the West. — The old "Western Conference. — His remarkable Death. 

— Bishop Hedding at his Grave. — His Character, _ 112 

CHAPTER XI. — Notices of Preachers, continued. — Ebenezer "Washburn. 

— Calvinism. — Christian Experience. — Joseph Sawyer. — Lorenzo Dow. — 
Sanctification. — Grave of Martin Ruter. — His early Life. —Margaret Peckett. 

— John Brodhead. — Ruter dies in Texas. — His Character, 122 

CHAPTER XII. — Further Biographical Notices. — Laban Ciark. — Introduc- 
tion of Methodism into Vermont. — John Langdon. — Calvinism. — Christian 
Experience. — Evangelical Excursions. — Anecdotes. — LandafFCircuit. — Brod- 
head. — Prosperity in Vermont. — The New York Conference at the Beginning 
of the Century. — Fletcher Circuit. — Privations. — Oliver Beale. — Character, . 137 

CHAPTER XnL — Incidents and Results of the Year 1801-2.— Elijah R. 
Sabin. — Landaff Circuit. — Ebenezer "Washburn. — Brandon Circuit. — Disci- 
pline. — Rencontres with Calvinism. — Persecutions. — Anecdote. — Middlebury. 

— Charlotte. — Starksboro'. — Hinesburg. — An Anti-Calvinistic Dutchman. — 
Laban Clark Itinerating in Vermont. — Statistics, 150 

CHAPTER XIV. — Conferences of 1802. — New York Session. —Its New 
England Character. — Bostwick and Brodhead. — Merwin. — Sabbath. — Asbury 
and "Whatcoat at New Rochelle. — At General Lippett's. — Arrival in Maine. — 
Progress of Methodism in the Province. — The New England Conference. — Re- 
turns from the Circuits. — Finances. — Incidents of the Session. — Return of 
the Bishops. — Their Visit at "Waltham, 159 

CHAPTER XV. — Appointments and Preachers. — Elias Vanderlip. — Alfred 
Metcalf. — Philip Munger. — His Early Life. — Character. — Samuel Draper. — 
Death. — Character. — Humor of the early Methodist Preachers. — Its Cause. 

— Asa Kent. — Anecdotes. — First Class at "West Brookneld. — Character. — 
Samuel Hillman. — "William Anson, 174 

CHAPTER XVI. — Progress and Incidents of the Ecclesiastical Year 1802- 
1803. — Remarkable Scenes on the Connecticut. — Letter from Ostrander. —Phe- 
nomena. — Livermore, Me. — Kibby at Marblehead. — "Washburn. — Trials at 
Springfield. — Asa Kent on Landaff Circuit. — Persecutions. — Successes,. , . 195 

CHAPTER XVII. — Conferences of 1803. — Asbury and Whatcoat return to the 
East. — At "Waltham. — First Boston Session of the New England Conference. 

— Members. — Finances. — New York Conference. — Its Session. —Returns 
from the Circuits. — The Sabbath Services. — Prosperity, 208 

CHAPTER XVIII. — Appointments and Preachers. — Appointments. — Sta- 
tistics. — John Robertson. — Pastoral Fidelity. — Seth Crowell. — Sketch of his 
History. — Character. — Elijah "Willard. — Early Life. — Christian Experience, 221 

CHAPTER XIX. — Events and Results of the Year. —Maine. —Joshua Tay- 
lor. — Major Ilsley. — Methodism in Portland. — Joseph Snelling. — Vermont. — 
Ebenezer "Washburn. — Extraordinary Scenes on Granville Circuit. — Hedding in 
New Hampshire. — General Conference. — Statistics, 231 

CHAPTER XX. — Early Churches in Vermont and New Hampshire. — Lu- 
nenburg. — Robert McKoy. — Robert Braden. — First Class. — Joseph Crawford. 

— A Mob. — Brodhead. — Dalton. — Sandwich. — Providential Occurrence. — 
Singular Introduction of Methodism into Athens. — Grand Isle. — Primitive 
Love Feasts. — Preachers. — Incidents, 236 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XXI. — Conferences of 1804. —New York Conference.— Asbury 
at New Haven. — General Lippett's. — Abraham Bemia' Homestead. — Lynn. 

— Conference at Buxton, Me. — Proceedings. — Sabbath Scenes. — Great Revival, 250 

CHAPTER XXII. — Appointments and Preachers. — Samuel Cochrane. — Hia 
Labors. — Character. — Zalmon Lyon. — Death and Character. — Eben Smith. 

— Early Experience. — Labors and Death. — Lewis Bates. — Early Impressions. 

— Labors in the Ministry. — Special Experience. — Character, 256 

CHAPTER XXin. — Incidents and Results. — Results of the Buxton Confer- 
ence. — Revivals in Maine. — Trials in Vermont. — A Ludicrous Example. — 
The " Tithingman." — Vermont and New Hampshire Districts. — Camp-meet- 
ing. — Remarkable Scenes. — Middletown Circuit. — Persecution. — Statistics, , 269 

CHAPTER XXIV. — Ecclesiastical Year 1805-1806. —New York Conference. 

— Asbury again in New England. — His Travels. — New England Conference. — 
Characteristic Notes. — Financial Deficits. — Sunday. — Extraordinary Interest, 279 

CHAPTER XXV. — Biographical Notices. — Appointments. — Reuben Har- 
ris. — His Travels. — Character. — Henry Martin. — Death. — Character. — Ben- 
jamin Bishop. — Lancaster, N. H. — A Brand plucked from the Burning, . . . 284 

CHAPTER XXVL — Incidents and Results. — Camp-meeting at Norton. — Lo- 
renzo Dow. — New Hampshire. — Vermont. — Ebenezer F. Newell. — Anec- 
dotes. — New London Circuit. — Trials. — Old Quarterly Meetings. — Statistics, 292 

CHAPTER XXVII. —Early Churches in Maine. — The First Methodist 
Church in Maine. — Gillman Moody. — Daniel Smith. — The Second Chapel in 
Maine. — Vienna. — Its First Class. — Revivals. — Chapels. — Preachers. — 
Methodism in Portland. — Lee's Visits. — Major Ilsley. — Theophilus Boyn- 
ton. — First Class. — Adversities. — Bath. — Early Class. — Timothy Merritt. 

— Progress. — Methodism on the Penobscot. — On the Kennebec, 298 

CHAPTER XXVIII. —Ecclesiastical Year 1806-7. — Asbury. — The New York 
Conference. — New England Conference. — Asbury Itinerating, 311 

CHAPTER XXIX. —Appointments and Preachers. — Joel Steele. — Charac- 
ter. — Death. — Caleb Fogg. — Labors. — Character. — Solomon Sias. — Primi- 
tive Quarterly Meeting. — Persecution. — Origin of " Zion's Herald." — Wil- 
liam Hunt. — Sanctification.-- Sublime Death. — Character, 316 

CHAPTER XXX. — Incidents and Results. — Death of Bishop Whatcoat. — 
His History. — Character. — Asbury's Estimate of him. — Eulogium at hia 
Grave. — Laborers in Maine. — Solomon Sias at Harrison. — New Hampshire. — 
Ebenezer F. Newell. — Anecdotes. — New London Circuit. — Trials. — Abner 
Wood. — Colchester. — Revivals. — Statistics, 331 

CHAPTER XXXI. — Ecclesiastical Year 1807-8. — Asbury. — New York Con- 
ference. — The New England Conference. — Characteristic Notes. — Finances, . 341 

CHAPTER XXXn. —Preachers, 1807-1808. — Appointments. — Charles Virgin. 

— Early Religious Experience. — Entrance into the Ministry. — Trials. — Anec- 
dotes. — Appointments. — Lewis Pease. — Early Struggles. — Labors. — Death. 

— Joseph A. Merrill. —Appointments. — Character. — Ebenezer Blake, — Early 
Life. —True Glidden. — Quarterly Meeting. — Incidents. — Appointments, . . 346 



Vm CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. -Results.— Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont Districts. 

— Sanctificalion. — Ebenezer F. Newell. — Boston. — Bristol. — Newport. — 
Warren. ^ New London District. — Statistics, 364 

CHAPTER XXXIV. — Early Methodist Churches in Connecticut. — Lee at 
New London. — Second Visit. — Asbury's Visit. — Organization of the First 
Class. — Its Members. — The First New London Conference. — The First Chapel 
erected. — Second Conference. — Great Revival. — Erection of the New Chapel. 

— Trials and Prosperity. — New Haven. — Lee's Visits. — Chapels. — Trials. 

— Success. — Thompson. — Early Methodist Preaching. — First Class. — Sarah 
Bugbee. — Conference. — First Chapel. — Improvements. — Elijah Nichols, . . 368 

CHAPTER XXXV. — Ecclesiastical Year 1808-9. — A sbury returns to the 
North. — New York Conference. — Asbury in New London. — New England 
Conference. — Examination of Characters. — General Conference. — Finances. — 
Proceedings. — Ordinations. — Asbury Travelling, 368 

CHAPTER XXXVI. — Biographical Notices. — Appointments. — Extent of the 
Field, — Abner Clark. — His History. — Death. — William Swayze. — His Great 
Success. — Death. — Isaac Bonney. — Early Life. — Appointments. — Charac- 
ter. — David Kilburn. — Christian Experience. — Travels. — Thomas Branch.- 

— Incidents, 389 

CHAPTER XXXVII. — Lee Revisits New England. — At Norwalk. — Strat- 
ford. — New Haven. — In Rhode Island. — Boston and Lynn. — In Maine. — Inci- 
dents. — His Return. — His Character. — Example of Wit. — Triumphant Death, 401 

CHAPTER XXXVm. — Progress and Incidents of 1808-9. — Maine. —New 
Hampshire. — Newell meditating in a Snow-drift. — Incidents. — Washburn and 
Bonney. — Anecdotes. — Boston District. — Statistics. — General Conference, . 413 

CHAPTER XXXIX. — Early Churches. — Church in Newport, R. I. — Its 
Early History. — Trials. — Joel Knight. — Providence, R.I. — First Class. — 
Early History. — Success. — New Bedford. — John Hawes. — Progress. — Mar- 
blehead. — Lee's First Visit. — Ebenezer Martin. — The Formation of the So- 
ciety. — Ezekiel Cooper. — James Bowler. — Curious Dream. — Trials. — Chap- 
el. — Remarkable Revival. — Subsequent Progress, 418 

CHAPTER XL. — Ecclesiastical Year 1809-10. —New York Conference.— 
Asbury in New England. — At Norwalk. — Hartford. — Newport. — Bristol. — 
Boston. — Waltham. — Lynn. — Incident. — New England Conference. — Char- 
acteristic Notes. —Finances. — Proceedings. —Asbury Itinerating, 439 

CHAPTER XLT. — Biographical Notices. —Appointments. — Coles Carpenter. 

— His Death. — Benjamin R. Hoyt. — Early Experience. — Mrs. Pickering. — 
Persecutions. — Revivals in Vermont. — Battle of Lake Champlain. — New Bed- 
ford. — Captain John Hawes. — Boston. — Wilbur Fisk. — Colporteurage. — 
Character. — John Lindsay. — Early Life. — Labors. — Character. — Dealh. — 
George Gary. — Christian Experience. — Services, 446 

CHAPTER XLII. —Biographical Notices, Continued. — Amasa Taylor. — 
Travels. — Benjamin Jones, — Appointments. — Death. — Character,— Ebenezer 
F. Newell. —Early History. — Travels. —Incidents. —Edward Hyde. —Enters 
the Itinerancy. —AppointmeiUs. — Character. —Triumphant Death, 464 

CHAPTER XLIII. — Review. — Conclusion. — Success in Maine. — New Hamp- 
shire. — Vermont. — Elsewhere. — Reflections, 484 ■ 



MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION. 



Methodism in the last Century. — Theology of New England. — Ecclesiastical Institutions. — 
Declension of vital Religion. — The Methodist Ministry. — Asbury. — Lee. — Pickering. — 
Religious Inquiry. — Spirituality of Methodism. — Its Modes of Worship. — Its Hymn- 
ology. 

We have traced, in a former work, the introduction of Meth- 
odism into New England, from the time (1789) when Jesse Lee 
commenced his mission, by proclaiming on the highway at Nor- 
walk. Conn., "Ye must be bom again," down to the close of the 
eighteenth century.^ The ecclesiastical year 1800-1 is the ap- 
propriate epoch for the resumption of our narrative, — not only 
because it begins a new century, and is the date of the organ- 
ization of the New England Conference, by its separation from 
that of New York; but also because what may properly be 
called the introduction of Methodism into the Eastern States 
had then been completed, and its remaining history is the record 
of successful progress, rather than of preliminary struggles. 

We propose, then, in returning, at this date, to our task, to 
record such memorials of the progress of the denomination, in 
the early part of the present century, as we may be able to 
gather from the scattered and fast evanescing data which still 
remain within our reach. 

It may not, however, be out of place, before entering upon our 
subsequent narrative, and while yet standing between the two 

♦ Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism into the Eastern States, &c. Peirce, 
Boston ; Scott & Lane, New York. 



10 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

centuries, — the introductory struggles and more regular pro- 
gress of our cause, — ^to re-survey those preparatory years of 
labor and sacrifice — their successful results, and the conditions 
which affected, favorably or unfavorably, those results. 

Lee spent three months of incessant travel and labor before he 
succeeded in forming his first Class ; and formed it, at last, of but 
three " elect ladies." Three months more passed before the 
second Class was organized ; and this consisted of but two mem- 
bers. The prospect was most discouraging and repulsive. In 
selecting Connecticut as the first scene of his operations, he chose 
the most impracticable portion of the whole field before him ; 
for no part of New England was more thoroughly prepossessed 
by the traditional sentiments of the Puritans, or more completely 
controlled by the rigid but simple mechanism of their ecclesias- 
tical organization. He was not only denied, generally, the ^so 
of the parish pulpits, but sometimes had, himself, to light up the 
school-houses and court-rooms in which he preached, and ring 
the bell to announce the time and place of the service. Looked 
upon as a dangerous fanatic, he was frequently refused even the 
usual hospitalities of the community ; and repeated his visits in 
some instances as often as three times, before any one invited 
him home, or even accosted him in the common language of 
courtesy. The pulpits assailed him, and his few coadjutors, as 
*' wolves in sheep's clothing ;" and if their rustic hearers admitted 
them to their domestic hospitalities, it was, not unfrequently, to 
dispute with them about " principles," and to dismiss them as 
incorrigible heretics, to be received no more. Of all extant illus- 
trations of that theological rigor which deformed so much not 
only the religious but the social life of our fathers, we know of 
none more chilling than the brief, unexaggerated, but ever-recur- 
ring notices of Lee's receptions, recorded in his journals. 

His determination conquered these grievous difficulties. In 
three months he had formed the first Methodist circuit in New 
England, comprising a reach of country which is now inter- 
spersed with scores of flourishing churches. In about seven 
months the third Class was organized, consisting of but four 
persons. After eight months of invincible persistence in his 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

solitary labors, and through mortifying treatment, three addi- 
tional laborers, Jacob Brush, Daniel Smith and George Roberts, 
" men of might," from Maryland, entered the field, as his com- 
panions in labor and suffering ; and the faithful pioneer describes 
significantly, though briefly, the emotions with which he hailed 
their approach : " When I saw them riding up, I stood and 
looked at them, and could say from my heart, ' Thou hast well 
done that thou art come.' No one knows, but God and my- 
self, what comfort and joy I felt at their arrival. Surely the 
Lord has had respect unto my prayers, and granted my request.' 
Relieved by this timely aid, Lee immediately commenced a 
comprehensive survey of the whole New England field, preach- 
ing, day and night, as he went ; and the first ecclesiastical year 
(of about sixteen months) closed, with four laborers in the field ; 
two hundred members in the church; two chapels, at least, 
erected; one district and five circuits formed; Connecticut, 
Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts, definitely surveyed 
for more systematic labors, and the principles of Methodism 
proclaimed by Lee himself in all the New England States. 

The next Conference year included only about eight months ; 
but during that period Lee preached at most of his former 
appointments in Connecticut ; traversed, with incessant labors, 
the eastern part of Massachusetts ; founded, in Lynn, the first 
Methodist society of that state, consisting of about sixty mem- 
bers, and succeeded, after repeated and prolonged and almost 
insurmountable failures, in permanently introducing Methodism 
into the metropolis. His colleagues, in the west of New Eng- 
land, had also been successful ; and at the Conference, held in 
New York city, six circuits were reported, containing four hun- 
dred and eighty-one church-members, being a gain of about three 
hundred in eight months. Methodism had taken permanent root 
in New England ; and the following year began with one district, 
six circuits, — four in Connecticut and two in Massachusetts, — 
eleven circuit preachers, and one presiding elder. Lee, as 
leader of the little band, travelled in Rhode Island, Massachu- 
setts east and west, and New Hampshire. Asbury deemed 
the new field important enough by this time for an episcopal 



12 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

visit ; and passed over Connecticut, Rhode Island and Eastern 
Massachusetts, preaching daily, and counselling and inspiriting 
his laborious itinerants. Special revivals cheered them this 
year ; and they reported, at its close, three additional circuits, 
and thirteen hundred and fifty-eight members, giving an increase 
of eight hundred and seventy-seven. The first chapel in Massa- 
chusetts was erected in Lynn; the first Class in Boston, com- 
prising fifteen members, and the first circuit in Rhode Island, 
were formed. During the ensuing Conference year (1792-3), 
the infant church continued to advance. The first New Eng- 
land Conference was held in the first and still unfinished chapel 
of Methodism in Massachusetts. Eighteen itinerants travelled 
the Eastern States, and the year closed with returns of seven- 
teen hundred and thirty-nine members, an advance of more than 
one-fourth on the returns of the preceding year. All the circuits, 
except one, reported an increase, and four circuits made returns 
for the first time. The first returns from the State of Rhode 
Island were made. Three years had not yet passed since the 
formation of the first society at Stratfield, Connecticut; but 
the average gain of the struggling cause had been four hundred 
and thirty-five per year. The year 1793-4 began with two 
Conferences in New England (at Lynn and Tolland), and five 
additional circuits ; the Province of Maine was added to the 
systematic plan of labor ; the itinerant band comprised twenty- 
Jive evangelists, and among them was the first native Methodist 
preacher in New England — a youth whose subsequent life and 
hoary years did not detract from the peculiar and honorable 
distinction. The year closed with an addition of one-fourth to 
the number of circuits, and three hundred to the returns of mem- 
bers. 

Thus closed the first five years of the history of Methodism in 
New England. The next year commenced with the addition 
of New Hampshire and Vermont to the regular itinerant work. 
The ecclesiastical field included two districts, and a part of a 
third ; eighteen circuits^ an increase of five ; and thirty preachers, 
five more than were appointed the preceding year ; and, though 
a year of adversity and loss in the general church, it closed with 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

an increase in New England of five hundred and thirty-six 
members. The first Methodist chapel in Maine had been 
erected; and from that province, though without a society at 
the beginning of the year, its solitary itinerant returned three 
hundred and eighteen members. 

The ensuing year (1795-6) was one of severe conflict, and 
some reverses. It began with no increase of circuits or laborers, 
and closed with a decrease of fifty-six members ; but the eccle- 
siastical plans of the infant cause were brought into more 
thorough organization, and its general interests were invig- 
orated ; two new circuits were formed in Maine, and extended 
systematic arrangements adopted for both Vermont and New 
Hampshire. From Norwalk in Connecticut to the Penobscot 
in Maine, and from Provincetown in Massachusetts to Mont- 
pelier in Vermont, Methodism had established its powerful 
itinerant system. 

The year 1796-7 began with twenty-one circuits, and thirty' 
one preachers ; and the returns, at its close, show an aggregate 
membership of three thousand — an increase for the year of 
four hundred and eighty, being about one-fourth the gains of the 
whole denomination during that period. There was an addition 
of three new circuits, though the numerical gain appears by the 
minutes to have been but one, owing to the incorporation of 
two former circuits into neighboring appointments. The follow- 
ing year was the most prosperous one yet enjoyed in the east by 
the new evangelists ; they did not increase much the number of 
circuits, but extended them greatly. Several chapels were erected, 
many new societies were formed, and wide-spread revivals took 
place. Vermont yielded its first returns of members, and the whole 
returns for New England amounted to four thousand one hundred 
and fifty-five, a gain of twelve hundred and sixteen, or more than 
one-third, on those of the previous year. The increase in New 
England was more than three times as great as that of the rest 
of the church, in both the republic and Canada. A band of at 
least twenty-five local preachers had been raised up ; and all the 
New England States, for the first time, were reported among 
the returns of the denomination. 
2 



14 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

The year 1798-9 was distinguished by the session of the 
first Conference in Maine, in which state Methodism had taken 
deep root. The itinerant corps in New England nqw included 
a host of men, of no ordinary character and talent ; and their 
labors, pursued with scarcely the intermission of a day, spread 
the doctrines of Methodism in all directions. Extended revivals 
occurred during the year, especially on the recent circuits in 
Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Three new circuits 
were formed in Vermont alone. The aggregate membership at 
the end of the year was about five thousand ; the increase about 
eight hundred — more than two-thirds of the gains of the whole 
denomination in the same period. 

At the Conference for the ecclesiastical year 1799-1800, five 
new appointments were made in the Eastern States —four cir- 
cuits and one station. The first decade of Methodism in New 
England had closed, and the results were three districts, and a 
large portion of a fourth, which reached into its limits, from the 
State of New York ; about thirty circuits, more than forty 
preachers, and about fim thousand members. The average 
increase of its circuits had been three per year, its itinerant min- 
isters four^ its membership five hundred. The ensuing Confer- 
ence year closed the century, and what we have chosen to 
consider the introductory labors of Methodism in the east. It 
was distinguished by the addition to the ministry of an apostolic 
band of twelve itinerants, and by extensive revivals of religion ; 
nearly every section of the new field was favored with success. 
Another circuit was formed in Rhode Island. Considerable 
additions were made to the church in Connecticut. In Massa- 
chusetts there were local declensions, but great general advance- 
ment ; the first returns of members from Nantucket were reported 
in the minutes, amounting to sixty-five; and on one of the 
western circuits of the. state, no less than one hundred and 
eighty were received into the societies. A new circuit was 
organized in New Hampshire. The small but heroic band of 
laborers in Maine passed through severe struggles; both the 
pulpit and the press attacked it. One of its hardy laborers, 
the devoted Joshua Taylor, was mobbed, and drummed with 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

tin kettles out of Castine ; yet the persecuted cause advanced, 
extensive revivals prevailed, and large additions were made to 
the church. The evangelists in Vermont met with extraordi- 
nary success ; a new circuit was added to their field of labor, 
and nearly Jim hundred members to their societies. About 
four years had passed since the first regular itinerant preaching 
of the new denomination began in that state ; now there were 
about eleven hundred Methodists within its limits ; they had 
nearly quadrupled in three years. 

Methodism had laid substantially its foundations in all the 
New England States. Its itinerants had extended their regular 
labors from Fairfield, in Connecticut, to the remotest settlement 
of Maine, and from the southernmost islands of Massachusetts 
to St. Albans, in Vermont. They assumed the confidence, the 
certainty, of permanent success; they had established their cause 
for ages, for all future time, as they believed ; and at the close 
of these eleven years, it included four districts, thirty-one cir- 
cuits, nearly fifty itinerant preachers, and nearly five thousand 
members, — an average of one hundred and twenty to each 
preacher. 

Such, then, was the introductory progress of Methodism in 
New England. Comparatively insignificant as it may appear 
at this day, it was great, and even signal, in those times. 

It may not be uninteresting to view, in connection with these 
results, some of the conditions which promoted or retarded 
them. 

Doubtless the traditional theology of New England was the 
chief difficulty with which the new denomination had to contend. 
No population had ever, perhaps, been more generally imbued 
with dogmatic religious ideas. The primitive rigor of theolog- 
ical opinion in these states had begun to relax, especially since 
the Eevolution ; but it is difficult for a people of a common and 
almost unmixed lineage to throw off', generally, the sentiments 
of their early national education. If all did not believe the 
prevalent theolog}'', yet all were familiar with it, and were pre- 
pared by it to repel the Methodistic doctrines, as novelties, if 
not fatal heresies. The Methodist pioneers, while they occa- 



16 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

sionally met with earnest and inquiring minds, who had not 
found repose in the Puritan theology, and who welcomed a 
more liberal and more vital faith, were nevertheless beset in all 
their travels by theological assailants. Even the popular mind 
had acquired from the system of Calvin a habit of metaphysical 
subtilty, and the new comers found themselves compelled often 
to waive their more express and vital themes of preaching, and 
enter the arena of polemics. Lee's journals abound in ludicrous 
notices of such rencontres, and they were so common as to pro- 
duce a characteristic effect on our first ministry ; though it was 
composed of " flaming witnesses " of the great doctrines of spirit- 
ual religion, yet was it notable for its downright polemical 
power, and its skill in the Genevan controversy. They had the 
sagacity to perceive, in the outset, that no compromise could be 
made between the polemics of the two systems, and that any 
success obtained by concession must be but temporary ; they 
therefore accepted at once the challenge of their theological 
opponents, and perseveringly rebutted the Calvinistic dogmas, 
courageously enduring, till they vanquished, the hostility which 
such a course could not fail to provoke. 

These adverse opinions had the additional influence of a simple 
but well-organized ecclesiastical system. Congregationalism has 
little apparent machinery ; but its colonial prevalence in New 
England had extended it everywhere over the Eastern States in 
a net-work of related parishes — related to each other by a com- 
mon relation to the state, as well as by common religious in- 
terests. Every town, village and hamlet, had its ecclesiastical 
provisions and regulations. The chief characteristics, in fact, 
of the civic and domestic life of New England, grew out of its 
ecclesiastical institutions and theological education. The " meet- 
ing-house" was not only universal ; it had precedence in its erec- 
tion, and in the eligibility of its site, before the school-house or the 
court-house, and the clergyman predominated, in public respect 
and influence, over all other functionaries. A most favorable 
indication did these facts present, notwithstanding many attri- 
butes of ecclesiastical rigor, polemical bigotry, and social as well 
as religious intolerance. But though such was the prevalence 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

of religious ideas and ecclesiastical provisions, the new evange- 
lists felt themselves justified in entering the Eastern States, by 
the general declension of spiritual religion which had befallen 
the Puritan churches. The decay of piety was, as we have 
heretofore seen,* profound and universal, and began to develop 
its usual results of both doctrinal and practical corruption. The 
mission of Methodism, as recognized by its adherents, was the 
revival of personal religion in the world, — the spread of Scriptural 
holiness over Christian lands, more than the propagation of 
Christianity in heathen countries : the plans of Wesley himself 
even extended not beyond this design. The Methodist Itinerants 
came preaching repentance and holiness of heart and life ; but 
notwithstanding the directly spiritual purpose of their labors, the 
settled clergy everywhere met them with opposition ; they were 
beset on every hand with, and often entangled in, the web of the 
established ecclesiastical arrangements. Disregarding the mi- 
nutely defined parish boundaries, they were rebuked, and often 
repelled with astonishment, as unscrupulous intruders. Relig- 
ious taxes, though somewhat modified since the Revolution, 
were still in force, and the converts to Methodism were refused 
recognition as an independent religious body ; they were forced 
to pay tribute to their persecutors, their cattle were driven to 
the auctioneer's stand, and they themselves cast into prison, for 
refusing to support a creed at which both their hearts and their 
understandings revolted. 

Still more effectually adverse to them than these direct results 
of the established religious system, was the moral advantage 
which the churches and pastors of the latter had above them, by 
a long and well-endowed respectability, that could not but be 
contrasted by the popular mind with the poverty and obscurity 
of the new "sect everywhere spoken against." Custom is more 
powerful than law ; and fashion, with its all-controlling influence, 
is but habitual custom. The established religion had the advan- 
tage of this unequalled power, though generally destitute of vital 
influence over the popular mind, and not a little impaired in the 
hold of its doctrines on the popular understanding. The " minis- 

* Mem. of Int. of Methodism, chap. II. 
2# 



18 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ter," and " deacon," and " squire," were at once the representatives 
of the respectability and of the Congregationalism, of the village. 
The dissenting sects which had dared furtively to intrude into 
the parish bounds had gathered to themselves usually only a 
few of the poor and unpretending class. What, then, could be 
the reception of these itinerant fanatics, as they were deemed ? 
what the consideration of a sect which met in barns, court-rooms, 
or farm-house kitchens, whose clergy, notwithstanding their ac- 
knowledged talents, had not learning (then more indispensably 
associated with the sacred office than now), and whose people 
were gathered chiefly from among citizens, the circumstances ox 
pretensions of whom were too humble to render important to 
them the public sentiment or village vogue ? 

The declension of personal religion to which we have alluded, 
while it was a reason for the labors of the new evangelists, w^as 
also one of the impediments in their way. Their distinctive 
sentiments were principally such as related to inward religion — 
direct and immediate conversion; vital piety, of which external 
observances and even practical morals were not so much the 
substance as the fruit and evidence ; the Witness of the Spirit, 
giving to the devout mind comfortable assurance of acceptance 
with God ; Sanctification, which, under the Scriptural name of 
" Perfection," taught an entire consecration of heart and life ; the 
final danger of backslidden professors of the faith (a doctrine 
everywhere repelled), — these were tenets to win the interest of 
those who, here and there, were hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness, but not to conciliate either the mass of formal 
adherents to the predominant worship, or even the eccentric or 
discontented few who, in every community, are always found 
ready for changes. 

We would not depreciate the true condition of the New Eng- 
land church at this period. It unquestionably possessed a very 
salutary and almost omnipresent influence over the popular 
mind ; but the Revolution, with all its advantages, had intro- 
duced general irreligion, and a fearful relaxation of morals. One 
immorality alone threatened a general desolation of society, 
and had placed the marks of its ravages on almost every 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

village ; — the prospect was that we were becoming a nation of 
drunkards. While the exterior observances of religion had 
become too habitual to be readily cast off, and the traditional 
theology was, as we have stated, universally known and gener- 
ally avowed, infidel tendencies, nevertheless, were beginning to 
develop themselves. A mis-called Arminianism, quite anti-evan- 
gelical in its character, and alarming to the more devout clergy 
of the time, was rapidly infecting the public mind. Socinianism, 
or at least the Arianism of later times, had already germinated; 
and Universalism, always in this country more practically than 
theoretically corrupt, had taken obscure root in the church gen- 
erally ; both these forms of error in a few years assumed an 
independent and organic existence. 

Revivals of religion had once prevailed in New England, but 
none of any importance had been known within a half-century 
before Lee's arrival. The great religious interest produced by 
Whitefield's visits had not only long since subsided, but had been 
defeated, to a considerable extent, by public and formal opposi- 
tion from the clergy, Edwards' revival labors had been attended 
by a hostile reaction ; he was dismissed from the scene of his 
apostolic ministry in Northampton, and retired to labor among 
the Stockbridge Indians, and to die out of New England. While, 
therefore, the traditional religious ideas and usages were yet 
prevalent enough to oppose everywhere the pioneers of Method- 
ism, irreligion and heretical tendencies also obstructed their 
course. They presented a hostile aspect to both, and made no 
compromise with either. Yet, as we have seen, they advanced 
into the new field with a success which must be pronounced quite 
extraordinary, under these inauspicious circumstances. 

Let us look now at some of the conditions which favored their 
success. 

An important reason for it was, doubtless, the really great 
character of the men who composed the first Methodist ministry 
in New England. It may be questioned whether our subse- 
quent ministry in the Eastern States, or any other portion of the 
church, has equalled in substantial ability the Methodist Itin- 
erants who entered New England before the end of the eighteenth 



20 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

century. Their successors have had more literary training, but 
this has not yet been sufficiently thorough and general to give 
them a marked distinction from their fathers ; while, on the other 
hand, the latter had the stern and effective education of extraor- 
dinary circumstances, — such circumstances as could not fail to 
convert them into heroes, or drive them individually from the 
field. 

Asbury was one of the most sagacious of men. He appreci- 
ated the difficulties of the new cause in the east, and showed his 
sagacity in the selection of evangelists for it. Most of them 
were men of remarkable talents and character, — Lee, Roberts, 
Smith, Bloodgood, Mills, Hunt, Taylor, Mudge, Pickering, Os- 
trander, Mitchell, McCoombs, Brodhead, Merritt, Sabin, Bost- 
wick, Beauchamp, Soule, Hedding, Webb, Kibby, and many 
others who were " giants in those days." Such of them as have 
survived till our day have, amidst the infirmities of old age, 
stood prominently in the church for their extraordinary traits. 
Some of them were distinguished by marvellous natural elo- 
quence, the effects of which on popular assemblies have seldom 
been equalled in our times; others were noted for polemical 
shrewdness and successful championship against the theological 
metaphysics of their day. If they were not the best scholars, they 
were, as a body, the best theologians, our ministry has yet had. 

They were, with scarcely an exception, men of indomitable 
energy. We doubt, indeed, whether they have been exceeded 
in their labors and travels in any age of the church. Asbury, 
their superintendent, preached, upon an average, one sermon a 
day for fifty years, besides incessant other public labors ; he sur- 
passed Wesley in his ministerial journeys. His travels more than 
averaged 6000 miles a year, and equalled the circumference 
of the globe every four years. And these were to a great extent 
performed on horseback, and over the new roads of our frontier 
wildernesses. All New England was but one circuit under 
Lee ; and he actually preached in all its states, during his 
first year. When others came to his help, it was but one 
District under his Presiding Eldership. He often travelled 
with two horses, leading one for a relay when the other should 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

be fatigued. Pickering's district, as Presiding Elder, at the end 
of the century, began at Providence, extended down the Provi- 
dence river, taking in the circuits on each side to Newport; 
thence it reached to the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nan- 
tucket, thence over the whole of Cape Cod, and returning took 
in all the eastern portion of Massachusetts, and all the interior 
circuits of the state, except one on its western extremity, and 
penetrated through New Hampshire, to beyond the centre of 
Vermont. Many of the earlier circuits were 500 miles in com- 
pass, and often, with daily travelling, required six weeks to sup- 
ply their appointments. With these vast fields of travel they 
combined continual preaching, exhortation, and Class leading. 
They averaged two sermons a day (three on the Sabbath), besides 
a class or prayer meeting almost daily. 

Their continual change of air, and exercise on horseback, were 
favorable to health ; and it was not unusual to meet among them 
men of extraordinary robustness ; yet most of them suffered from 
excessive labors, poor shelter in the cabins of the wilderness, the 
fatigue of night preaching, and travels through the storms of 
winter. Catarrh, asthma, bleeding of the lungs and pulmonary 
consumption, were common diseases among them, and often com- 
pelled them to " locate." Of 650 travelling preachers, who had 
been on the Minutes in the United States by the end of the last 
century, about 500 died located, and many of the remainder were 
a longer or shorter time in the local ranks, but were able to re- 
sume their ministerial travels, and died in the " regular work." 
There are, indeed, very few of our elder ministry still lingering 
among us, who wear not the marks of their early sufferings, the 
honorable scars of their evangelical heroism. Our Conference 
records show a host of martyrs, if not to persecution, yet at least 
to devotion to the ministerial mission. The tables of mortality 
scarcely afford a parallel. From 1773 to 1845, there died in the 
Itinerant ministry of the M. E. Church 737 preachers, besides 
the large proportion who, as we have just seen, must have died, 
during that period, in a local relation to the ministry. The ages 
at which these recorded deaths occurred furnish a striking evi- 
dence of the peril to health and life which attended the Itinerant 



22 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

work. There were among them 41 who died between 20 and 
25 years of age ; 203 between 25 and 35 ; 121 between 35 and 
45 ; 88 between 45 and 60 ; 42 between 60 and 70 ; 35 between 
70 and 80, and 9 between 80 and 91. Nearly half of all whose 
deaths are recorded fell before they were 30 years old. These 
facts become doubly startling when we learn the very short 
periods of service which these self-sacrificing men were enabled 
to endure. The time spent in the Itinerant work by 672 has 
been ascertained: 199 spent from 2 to 5 years; 209 from 5 to 
12 ; 129 from 12 to 25 ; 90 from 25 to 40 ; 32 from 40 to 50 ; 
and 13 from 50 to 61. About two-thirds died after twelve years' 
Itinerant service.^ 

Men of such talents and such devotion could not fail of success. 
The popular mind, however disposed at first to be merry at them, 
as eccentric or fanatic wanderers, soon came to recognize them as 
apostles and " sons of thunder." And despite all the prestige of 
the established church, and the machinerjr of its opposition, they 
left an abiding impression on all their extended courses, and, as 
we have seen, in ten or eleven years had founded Methodism 
forever in the Eastern States. 

The spirit of speculative inquiry to which we have referred as 
in part adverse to Methodism, by reason of the heresies which it 
had been gradually introducing, was not without a favorable 
effect also. Many minds, revolting from the severities of the 
Calvinistic theology, had not yet seized on the errors of Socin- 
ianism or Universalism, but were prepared for views more liberal 
than the prevalent creed, and yet as evangelical. Methodism met 
their demand. The most rigid dogmas of Calvinism had been 
taught them ; even the damnation of infants, a logical result of 
Calvinism not usually avowed in our day, was then an item 
in the elementary instruction of the schools.! Independent 
minds, thinking for themselves and rejecting such tenets as in- 
admissible, if not blasphemous — and self-distrusting ones, sink- 

*Prof. Baker, in Zion's Herald. 

t See " Day of Doom," an old poem, by Michael Wigglesworth, and used as a school- 
book not more than seventy years since. Ly ell's Second Visit to U. S., Vol. i., Ed, 
Rev., 1819. Littell'B Living Age, Aug. 25, 1849. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

ing in despondence under them, hailed the more genial doctrines 
of Methodism with a cordial welcome, as the true expression of 
the Gospel. Hundreds, who had been bound down for years, 
looked up, and beheld with joy the new light. 

There were many also awaiting a more spiritual ministration 
of the truth, who found it in Methodism. Lee discovered in 
several instances little bands of devout persons who had been in 
the habit of meeting periodically to pray, and counsel each other 
respecting a higher Christian experience, and who greeted his 
coming as a providential answer to their prayers. He found a 
small company of this kind at Stratfield, Conn., where he formed 
his first New England Class. In another town he met with a 
similar band who had learned something of Methodism, through 
a casual visit, some six years before, of Rev. Wm. Black, one 
of the founders of Methodism in the British provinces ; they met 
weekly for mutual religious instruction, and patient prayer for 
the arrival of a suitable spiritual guide. The itinerant evan- 
gelists found always a hearty reception in these cases ; their great 
consolatory themes of universal redemption, direct conversion, 
the witness of the Spirit, entire sanctification, &c.,.were received 
as the elements of the power and life of the Gospel. 

Not only were the doctrines of Methodism peculiarly hopeful 
and vital, but its modes of worship were attractive by a sim- 
plicity and animation which appealed to the social sympathies 
of the people. Its Prayer Meetings, Class Meetings, Love 
Feasts (a modification of the primitive Agapae), its Quarterly Con- 
ferences, assembling the several societies from great distances ; 
its Camp Meetings, which, with some objectionable liabilities, pre- 
sented also many advantages in those days of few chapels ; the 
itinerancy of its preachers, uniting numerous societies by the tie 
of a common pastorate, and bringing the pilgrim preacher, at 
each appointment in his route, into the families of his people ; the 
familiarity and power of extemporaneous preaching, — these 
peculiarities gave a community of feeling and a life and energy 
to the young church, which could not fail to be contrasted in the 
popular mind with the old and devitalized "standing order." 
To these considerations should be added, also, the unrivalled 



24 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

hymnology of Methodism. The doggerel melodies (and melodies 
most of them must be called, if they were doggerel) of a later 
day had not yet been introduced ; but the richly evangelical and 
vivid lyrics of Charles Wesley were universally sung by the 
travelling ministry, and adopted by their new converts, — lyrics 
which Montgomery has pronounced superior to any other hymns 
extant, and which, sung not by choirs, but by the assembled 
multitudes, were often overwhelmingly sublime and powerful, 
and no insignificant means of the early success of Methodism.^ 
Such were some of the conditions, favorable and unfavorable, 
of the experiment of Methodism in New England. These were, 
however, but subsidiary to that providential agency which dis- 
posed the hearts of the people, and opened the way for its 
introduction. Methodism was providentially designated to the 
important mission which it has thus far achieved in our country. 
God has disciplined it by severe trials, but also marvellously 
upheld and projected it onward by his own right hand, and 
baptized it with special outpourings of his Spirit. The original 
conditions of its success may need modifications, as times change; 
but most of them, as applicable to universal and unchanging 
human nature, will be found, by the student of its history, to 
have been the means of its later, as of its earlier triumphs, and 
should be devoutly guarded, as the elements of its future useful- 
ness. 

* Southey says, " Perhaps no poems have ever been so devoutly committed to 
memory as these, nor quoted so often upon a death-bed. The manner in which they 
were sung tended to impress them strongly upon the mind ; the tune was made wholly 
subservient to the words, not the words to the tune." — Life of Wesley. The minutest 
modes of English Methodism were originally copied in this country, being introduced, 
with the system itself, by English preachers. 



CHAPTER II. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1800-1. 

General Conference of 1800. — Organization of the New England Conference. — Previous Con- 
ferences in New York and New England. — Lee a Candidate for the Episcopal Office. — 
His Defeat, and subsequent Conduct. — Lee at the New York Conference. — He reenters 
New England. — Asbury and Whatcoat in New England. — General Lippett. 

A General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church 
was held in Baltimore, in 1800 ; it began on the sixth day of 
May, and continued to the twentieth. It is the first session 
of that body whose records have reached us, and is chiefly 
important to the history of Methodism in the Eastern States, as 
the one at which New England was organized into a distinct 
annual Conference, by its detachment from that of New York. 
Hitherto the annual Conferences had not been defined by geo- 
graphical boundaries, but depended upon the convenience of the 
bishop, and the changing condition of the church, for their 
limitations, and the times and places of their sessions. One or 
two sessions a year usually sufficed for the whole church north 
of Philadelphia, and these were most frequently held within the 
State of New York. New England pertained to this indefinite 
northern Conference, though there were, within its own limits, 
occasional irregular sessions. Henceforth the history of this 
section of the church becomes more independent and definite. 
The whole church was now divided into seven Conferences, the 
limits of which were definitively settled. 

It seems to have been a question with Lee whether New York 
or New England should have the honor of giving title to the 
hitherto northernmost Conference. He actually ventured to give 
it the latter name. He says, " It was now determined that there 
should be seven annual Conferences, and that of New England 
3 



26 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

should be divided ; that one should be called the New England 
Conference, and the other the New York Conference : and the 
bounds for each were fixed." ^ 

The Conference from which Lee was originally sent to New 
England was the first one held in New York city ; another was 
held there the next year.. In the following year (1791), a ses- 
sion was held in New England, as well as in New York. Down 
to the organization of an independent New England Conference 
(eleven years), there had been, within the State of New York, 
thirteen sessions, and eleven within New England ; four of those 
in New York were, however, double sessions (two sessions the 
same year), while but three such occurred in New England. 
During these eleven years, there were two successive years 
(1797 and 1798) in which the sessions were intermitted in New 
York, being held exclusively in New England. There was but 
one year (1799) in which the Conference was intermitted in New 
England. New York, however, has the double advantage of 
both prior and more numerous sessions. 

Another event, which would have further connected the Gen- 
eral Conference of 1800 with the history of Methodism in New 
England, nearly occurred during its session. Lee was a candi- 
date for the Episcopacy. His friends, especially his co-laborers 
in the east, could not fail to see in him preeminent qualifications 
for the office. Like Asbury, he was unmarried, — no unim- 
portant consideration, when it is remembered that the church, 
coextensive with the United States and Canada, was but one 
diocese, and that two weeks' delay, in one place, was a rare 
occurrence in the Episcopal travels. His energy was indom- 
itable ; no man in the connection, except Asbury, had travelled 
or preached more. He was capable of supervising and directing 
others, as his New England history had fully proved. Above 
all, he possessed apostolic piety and zeal — a devotion which 
never staggered at difficulties. Few men, indeed, presented 
such apparent and so many claims for the office ; and his friends 
generally ascribed the failure of his election to some private 

* Short Hist, of the Methodists, Anno 1800. 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1800-1. 27 

misapprehensions, which would have been fully corrected, had 
they been frankly avowed."^ On the first ballot, no candidate 
had a majority ; on the second, there was a tie between Lee and 
Richard Whatcoat ; on the third count, Whatcoat had a majority 
of four votes, and was declared elected.! The friends of Lee, 
failing in their favorite candidate, had reason to rejoice that 
so good a substitute was chosen ; for Whatcoat was a man of 
saintly piety and mature wisdom. 

The disappointment, if such it really was to Lee, did not 
dampen, for a moment, his cordiality to his brethren, or his 
generous zeal in their common cause. He says of the session, 
" I believe we never had so good a General Conference before. 
We had the greatest speaking, and the greatest union of affections, 
that we ever had on a like occasion." t And on the Sabbath 
on which his successful competitor was ordained, Lee was found 
preaching, as he had been wont years before, when stationed in 
that city, in the market-house, on Howard's Hill, with a power 
that shook the multitude as the tempest shakes the forest. The 
people " wept," and cried out, and ••' prayed most earnestly." A 
zealous brother-itinerant exhorted after him, as. was customary 
in those days, and the exercises were prolonged still further 
with prayers for " those who were under conviction." He was 
subsequently informed by letter that seven persons had been 
converted through the instrumentality of that sermon. 

The session having adjourned, Asbury, accompanied by What- 
coat, set out on his route towards the New England Conference, 
and Lee soon followed. On Thursday, 19th June, they were 
together at the New York Conference, which comprised then, 
as it still does, a large portion of western New England, and 
therefore properly pertains to our narrative ; the paucity of the 
(lata respecting it leaves us, however, scarcely anything to record. 
One of the notable itinerants of that day, B. Hibbard, a New 

* They were effectually corrected by Asbury himself, in the Conference, but not till 
after the election. 

t See Short Hist, of the Methodists, Anno. 1800. Banga (Hist of Meth., Anno 
1800) gives but two ballotings. Lee is correct. 

: Thrift's Mem. of Lee, chap. xvii. All subsequent quotations from Lee are from this 
work, unless otherwise indicated. 



28 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

England man, writes : " We had a good time in our Conference. 
I thought all things went on well. But there was not so much 
life in the public meetings as I expected to find : yet what there 
was appeared to be very good; also much love and good-will 
was manifested among all the preachers. Bishop Asbury and 
Bishop Whatcoat presided, and certainly they were the best of 
men ; they appeared to have the whole work at heart, and their 
whole hearts in the work. Their love for the preachers was 
manifest in a peculiar manner. Bishop Asbury was oldest in 
office, and had been longest with us. He sat as a father among 
his children, beloved by every one. When he prayed, he was 
as one conversing with a venerable friend, in which he seemed 
to have our interest at heart more than his own ; and it encouraged 
us all to draw nigh to God. What a blessing to have godly 
men ! " Forty preachers were present, more than half of whom 
were appointed to New England, — one-half the territory of the 
Conference being then within the Eastern States. Lee preached 
on the evening of the first day, with overpowering eloquence, 
chiefly to the members of the Conference. His text was Luke 
9 : 50 : " Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach 
the kingdom of God." He endeavored to " stir them up to con- 
tinue in the work of the ministry." They needed thus to be 
encouraged and exhorted, for the privations and labors of their 
office were formidable beyond any parallel since the days of the 
apostles. They had no abiding city ; with few exceptions, they 
were compelled to remain unmarried ; they preached daily ; they 
travelled incessantly ; their annual allowance had been but sixty- 
four dollars, besides travelling expenses ; and at this session a 
deficit of six hundred and ninety dollars, in the payment of 
these forty men, was reported. Their labors were among the 
poorest classes ; and their accommodations, in their fatiguing 
journeys, were often of the poorest kind. Their lives were indeed 
a "fight for the faith," and they themselves "a spectacle unto 
the world and to angels and to men." Lee could appropriately 
address them on their duties and their sufferings ; for he stood 
in their midst an heroic example of both. They melted under 
his appeals ; " it was a weeping time among the preachers," and 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1800-1. 29^ 

a " solemn effect " was produced on the assembly. " Glory be 
to God! " exclaims the devoted evangelist; "glory be to God for 
his goodness to me, and for his presence in the congregation ! " 

The Conference continued till Monday 23d. " We had," says 
Asbury, "some knotty subjects to talk over, which we did in 
great peace, plainness, and love. Tuesday and Saturday, we 
were closely confined to business." ^^ On the Sabbath, liberal 
collections were taken towards the support of the preachers. 
Asbury preached from Rom. 12 : 19, 20, 21, urging on the people 
the duty of sympathy with all men, but particularly with their 
suffering pastors. Whatcoat preached the ordination sermon in 
the afternoon, at the Bowery church. As usual at these early 
Conferences, a profound religious effect was produced by the ses- 
sion. Asbury writes on Tuesday, after the adjournment, " We 
have had a mighty stir in the Bowery church for two nights past 
till after midnight ; perhaps twenty souls have found the Lord." 

On Saturday 28th, Lee writes, " I left New York State, and 
rode into Connecticut, to Joseph Hawkins', in Nodd. At two 
o'clock, I preached on Luke 11 : 28. I had a small congregation, 
and they were very tender, and some of them wept heartily. I 
talked to several persons about their souls, after I was done 
preaching : some of them were not so engaged as they used 
to be when I was in these parts before ; they promised me, with 
tears in their eyes, that they would try to be more engaged in 
future. I then rode to Samuel S. Smith's, and stayed all night 
with him ; he is a lawyer, and a preacher among the Methodists. 

" Tuesday, July \bth. — I rode to Boston, but had no opportu- 
nity of preaching. The workmen were engaged in finishing off 
our meeting-house, and were to have it done in a little time." 

He passed on to his endeared society at Lynn, where, in two 
days more, the New England Conference began its session. 

Asbury and Whatcoat also departed from New York, for the 
New England Conference, on Saturday the 28th. The veteran 
bishop was worn out with labors and infirmities. He had offered 
his resignation at the late General Conference, on account of his 

* Journals Anno 1800. All our future quotations from Asbury will be from his Jour- 
nals, the dates corresponding with our own. 

3=^ 



30 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

growing disabilities ; but it was promptly refused by his brethren. 
He was compelled to change his old mode of travelling on horse- 
back for a carriage; and, as his infirmities increased, it was neces- 
sary to help him in and out of his vehicle at the church doors, 
and support him to the pulpit, where also he was often under 
the necessity of sitting in- a chair while preaching. With these 
growing disabilities, he needed repose ; but he took it only in 
brief intervals. Before entering New England, he tarried for a 
few days' rest with his colleague at one of his old and favorite 
resorts, near the boundary. " We left the city," he writes, " and 
rode twenty-six miles, through heat and plagued by flies, to my 
old home, at the widow Sherwood's." He was saddened to learn, 
on his arrival, that one of the family, who, for her hospitable care 
of him in former visits, when he was suffering under illness, he 
calls his nurse, had " gone" — " Gone, I trust, to glory," he writes. 
Such bereavements deeply affected his sensitive spirit, and at the 
present period of his life they were not unfrequent in the wide 
circle of his travels and friendships. On Sabbath the 29th, he 
and Whatcoat preached at New Rochelle. 

The next day they entered Connecticut. The notes of his 
progress are quite meagre, — almost destitute of any appreciable 
information ; unsatisfactory, however, as they are, they should 
not be lost. "We came," he writes, "to Byram Bridge, and at 
Banks we had a crowded house, and a feeling time ; the aged 
people were very attentive. 

" Tuesday, July \st. — In consequence of our circumlocutory 
motions, we have rode about fifty-five miles since we left the city 
of New York. We came to Stamford, where Brother Whatcoat 
gave a sermon on ' The faith and choice of Moses.' I had only 
time to speak a few words on Luke 19 : 44, 

" Wednesday, 2nd. — We rode on to Norwalk ; stopped an hour 
at Brother Day's, and thence rode on to Fairfield. It was a cool 
day. We had an elegant view — the fields in full dress, laden with 
plenty — a distant view of Long Island and the Sound — the 
spires of steeples seen from distant hills — this country is one con- 
tinuity of landscape. My mind is comforted, and drawn out in 
prayer. We had not time to feed nor rest. It was with some 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1800-1. 31 

exertion we came in time to Joseph Hall's, at Poquohak. After 
we got a little refreshment and rest, I gave them a short discourse 
on Luke 10 : 2. Strength and time failed me, and I could not 
finish and apply as I wished. 

" Thursday, 3c?. — We came to Stratford, and stopped at 
Brother Wheeler's. 

" Friday, ^th. — The weather is damp, and very warm. We 
came on to New Haven, where they were celebrating the fourth 
of July. Bishop Whatcoat preached in the Sandiminian meet- 
ing-house, purchased by the Methodists. 

" Saturday, bth. — We rode, through excessive heat, over 
rocks and hills, to North Bristol, twenty miles. I discoursed, 
with some liberty, on Acts 26 : 18. 

" Sabbath day,%th. — We rode six miles to Punsit's new meeting- 
house. A revival of religion has begun here ; a dozen souls 
have professed to find the Lord, several young people are under 
gracious visitations, and the aged are exceedingly cheered at the 
prospect. Bishop Whatcoat preached in the morning, and in the 
evening I made some improvement from 1 Peter 2: 11, 12; 
after which we administered the sacrament. We were engaged 
five hours in public exercises ; the day was very warm. We 
have travelled, since last Saturday week, one hundred and forty 
miles. 

" Monday, 1th. — We rode sixteen miles to Hadley. The day 
was awfully warm until one o'clock, when a gust came up of wind 
and rain ; we ran from house to house, and escaped being much 
wet ; we stopped at Mr. Wood's. Tuesday we rode on to New 
London ; twenty miles of the way the roads were exceeding 
rocky. My soul was kept in peace, but under great temptations 
of various kinds. We crossed Connecticut river at Chapman's 
Ferry, near old Haddam. Where the roads here are improved, 
they are made for ages, and are much superior to those in the 
south or west." 

On Tuesday, 8th, they were at New London, and refreshed 
the young society there by sermons in their new chapel. Bishop 
Whatcoat proclaiming to them that "with Him is plenteous 
redemption," and Asbury proving to them that "Christ is the 



32 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

author of salvation to all them that obey Him." They passed 
up to Norwich Landing, on the 10th. No Methodist chapel had 
yet been erected there, but the hospitalities of a kindred church 
were tendered to the apostolic travellers; they were admitted into 
the Protestant Episcopal chapel, which Asbury describes as neat 
and elegant. His heart warmed under the kindness, and he 
preached with " uncommon liberty," declaring " that unto you 
first God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you 
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Thence 
they passed to Norwich town, where Whatcoat preached. The 
weary Itinerants entertained themselves on their route with the 
beauty of the landscapes, and the contrasts which 'New England 
everywhere offered to the condition of the other states. " We 
had a most agreeable ride on the turnpike road, the country upon 
each side beautifully smiling with variety and plenty." 

Friday, 11th, they were at Preston, on their way towards 
Rhode Island, and were "kindly entertained at Isaac Herrick's." 
It was " the height of rye harvest," yet the unusual course of these 
wandering evangelists excited the public interest, and drew out 
a large assembly, to whom Asbury published " the great salvation,'' 
being " greatly led out " on the subject. " I was refreshed," he 
says, " in soul and body, and rode on in the evening to Nathan 
Herrick's." As they advanced, they were more and more inter- 
ested in the " simplicity and frugality of New England life." 
Asbury particularly commends the New England woman as " a 
mother, mistress, maid, and wife." — "She seeth to her own 
house, parlor, kitchen, and dairy ; here are no noisy negroes, 
running and lounging." 

On Saturday, 12th, they passed through Plainfield, into Rhode 
Island. After a fatiguing journey, in excessive heat, and over 
difficult roads, " we wandered," writes Asbury, " a mile or two 
out of our way, and had to pay for it by going a cross path ; w^e 
made it twenty-six miles to General Lippett's. The general hath 
built a neat chapel for the use of the Methodist Episcopal church 
near his house." 

General Lippett, of Cranston, R. I., was one of the few among 
the higher classes in New England who had adopted the doc- 
trines of Methodism. His wealth was liberally expended for its 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1800-1. 33 

promotion. He erected, at his own expense, and on his own 
premises, a chapel for the accommodation of the small church 
which had been formed among his neighbors. His mansion was 
always open to receive the travelling preachers, and became one 
of their most frequented and most comfortable homes ; and its 
ample accommodations were hospitably afforded, as we have seen 
in our former volume, to the large assemblies which were brought 
together by the Quarterly Conferences of those days, as many as 
fifty persons being entertained at once with dinner by its gener- 
ous host on such occasions, and as many as thirty lodged ; the 
large-hearted lady of the general kept always in readiness at 
least fifteen good spare beds. The estate, with its chapel, is 
still maintained by his son, w^ho entertains his father's generous 
sympathies with the cause of Methodism. 

Asbury and his colleague tarried in this comfortable retreat 
overthe Sabbath, — not, however, in idleness. Whatcoat preached 
in the new chapel in the morning ; and Asbury, though suffering 
from an attack of illness during the preceding night, addressed 
them in the afternoon from Exod. 20 : 24 — " In all places where 
I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." 
" It was a feeling time," he writes ; " although I was very unwell 
all the day, I could not stand back from duty." 

They hastened away, the next day, for the Lynn Conference. 
"Monday, 14th," he writes, "we came on our way to Boston, 
through Providence; here we did not stop, — the time is not yet 
come. We stopped to feed at a house that was not very agree- 
able to me, and I was glad to come off without dining. We 
came to Deacon Stanley's, at Attleborough, where we took some 
refreshment, and reached Mr. Guild's, and took lodging. 

" Massackifsetts, Tuesday 15tk. — We came through Wrentham, 
Walpole, Dedham and Roxbury, to Boston ; it was a damp day, 
with an easterly wind, unfriendly to my breast. As they were 
about finishing our church, we could not preach in it. We made 
our home at Edward Haynes', late from England, where we had 
most agreeable accommodations after our toil." 

On Thursday, the 17th, they reached Lynn, where the preach- 
ers were mostly gathered for the Conference, which was to begin 
on the following morning. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCE OF 1800. 

Lynn. — Its Fii'st Chapel. — The Conference. — Notices of Character. — Whatcoat. — The Roll. 
— Clerical Celibacy. — Examination of Character. — Examples. — Finances. — Success. 

On the morning of Friday, July 18th, 1800, began the first 
regular session of the New England Conference. Several irreg- 
ular sessions had occurred in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and 
Maine, during the preceding ten years ; but the New England 
appointments were now for the first time definitively organized 
into an Annual Conference, by the authority of the General 
Conference. 

The session was opened by Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, 
in the new Methodist chapel of Lynn, — a village beautifully 
located on the sea-coast, ten miles north of Boston, and of which 
Asbury predicted, nine years before, that " Here we shall make 
a firm stand, and from this central point, from Lynn, shall the 
light of Methodism radiate through the state ;" a prophecy which 
had now been fulfilled, for from Lynn, as his head-quarters, 
did Lee, down to the period of this Conference, go forth ever and 
anon himself, and send forth his assistant laborers, into not only 
Massachusetts, but New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island, 
until Methodism was permanently founded in all those states. 
Lynn itself has not only multiplied sevenfold its Methodist 
places of worship, and given to the church more than a score 
of travelling and local preachers, but has the peculiar and signal 
honors of having been the locality of the first Methodist society 
and ^Q first Methodist chapel of the commonwealth; of the first 
irregular, as well as the first regular, "New England Conference ; 
and the birth-place of the first native Methodist preacher of the 
Eastern States. 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1300. 35 

The chapel in which the Conference of 1800 convened had 
been erected nearly ten years ; but it was thrown up in haste, 
being dedicated in five days after it was framed, and occupied in 
less than two weeks after its foundation was laid. It remained 
at this date quite an inferior and incomplete structure. Nearly 
a hundred warm-hearted Methodists, however, welcomed the 
devoted Itinerants to its humble altar, and to their bountiful 
homes. 

Twenty-one members, Asbury informs us, were present. The 
estimate included himself and Whatcoat, and not the probation- 
ers, who were six in number. The records of the session — the 
first Conference records of New England — are yet extant. The 
roll presents names which have since become noted, and endeared 
throughout the church. 

It would, we doubt not, be interesting, exceedingly interesting, 
to the Methodist whose eye now rests on these lines, to be more 
fully introduced to this first regular assembly of the fathers of 
his church, the veterans who brought among our families the 
benign and vital theology of Methodism ; for the founders of 
what American religious sect have left behind them more heroic 
reminiscences, or more endearing sympathies, than these self- 
sacrificing and apostolic men ? A half-century has, however, 
passed away since they met; only a scattered few of them, 
infirm and in retired life, await the call to rejoin their departed 
fellow-laborers ; but one (Daniel Webb), we believe, remains in 
active service ; and the data of this period, whether recorded or 
remembered, are too imperfect to be composed into any satisfac- 
tory historic picture. Still, the surviving witnesses of this ses- 

I sion delight in recalling the truly great men who sat in it. 

I Most of them we have noticed in our preceding volume. 

I Asbury, not yet very aged, but wrinkled and debilitated by 
cares and labors, was present, guiding the proceedings with his 
rare sagacity, and discriminating, with the skill of a Lavater, the 

I characters of men presented before him for the responsibilities 
of the ministry."^ 

* Asbury was noted, among the preachers, for an almost infallible judgment of men's 
characters from their physiognomy and bearing, and for the independence with which 
he made known such estimates. 



36 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Lee was there, frequently relieving the drudgery of business 
with his genial humor and apt repartee, which were not unmixed 
with the devoutest utterances of a humble though cheerful piety. 

Pickering sat amidst the group, a young man observed for 
his personal beauty. He was blooming with health, his hair 
flowing in curls upon his shoulders ; and his remarks, very seldom 
made, were noticeable for their laconic significance and point. 

Timothy Merritt, though quite youthful, being but about 
twenty-five years old, gave eminent promise among them, both 
of piety and theological ability. 

Beauchamp was there, — a man of the noblest style of intellect, 
who had come from the banks of the Monongahela to the help 
of the New England evangelists, and who stood in such estima- 
tion that he lacked but two votes, in the General Conference of 
1823, of an election to the episcopal office. There, also, were 
Joshua Taylor, benign and beloved; Joseph Snelling, over- 
flowing with amiability, and the first Methodist preacher raised 
up in Boston ; John Finnegan, full of Irish heartiness and quaint- 
ness, and an indomitable laborer ; Epaphras Kibby, only twenty- 
three years old, and but two years in the ministry, yet strong 
in the promise of a brilliant and original mind, which subse- 
quently rendered him one of the most popular preachers of the 
connection ; and Daniel Webb, " a man of unblemished char- 
acter," ^ said his brethren of the time, and characterized by the 
direct pertinency of his remarks in the Conference. 

Elijah R. Sabin, also, though not a member, was present, as a 
probationer, — a man of sorrows, but " full of the Holy Ghost 
and of faith," the traces of whose usefulness are found all over 
New England, and whose powerful but humble spirit, after a 
life of sorest conflict, passed away triumphantly as in a chariot 
of fire. 

Dr. Thomas Sargeant, a man alike of superb mind and per- 
son, and recently from the Middle States, and Joshua Wells, 
one of the strong men of the times, who still survives, the oldest 
Methodist preacher of the nation, sat amidst them. 

Whatcoat, the new bishop, was a prominent object of interest 

* MS. Records of the Conference. 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1800. 37 

to both preachers and people. He had never been among them 
before, and he came now with not only the fresh honors of his 
office upon him, but with the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel 
of Christ. He attended all the New England sessions regularly 
during four years, and was always received with heart-felt 
regard, and even reverence, notwithstanding he had been the 
competitor of Lee, their favorite candidate for the episcopal 
office. He was advanced in life, being the senior of Asbury by 
nine or ten years. He was venerable in person, and dignified 
by a simplicity and sobriety, and an unction of piety which com- 
manded universal regard. For thirty-nine years, down to the 
time of this Conference, he had been walking with God, in the 
enjoyment of " entire sanctification ; " and his uniform spirit and 
demeanor attested the genuineness of his experience. He had 
been thoroughly trained in practical Methodism, having been in 
the connection more than forty years, fifteen of which he spent 
under the guidance of its great founder, in England. He had 
participated in the organization of the American Methodist 
church, and had labored in its most important fields for sixteen 
years. He was a profound theologian, and an impressive, 
powerful preacher. His old colleagues speak with a reverent 
enthusiasm of his excellences ; they call him an " apostolic man 
of God." " We will not," they say, " use many words to 
describe this almost inimitable man. So deeply serious ! Who 
ever saw him trifling or light ? Who ever heard him speak evil 
of any person ? Nay, who ever heard him speak an idle word ? 
Dead to envy, pride and praise ; sober without sadness, cheer- 
ful without levity, careful without covetousness, and decent 
without pride ! He died not possessed of property sufficient to 
have paid the expenses of his sickness and funeral, if a charge 
had been made ; so dead was he to the world ! Although he 
was not a man of deep erudition, yet probably he had as much 
learning as some of the apostles and primitive bishops, and 
doubtless sufficient for the work of the ministry. He was deeply 
read in the word of God. His knowledge in the Scripture was so 
great that one of his friends used to call him his concordance." ^ 

* Minutes for 1807. 



38 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

And of his profession of the sanctifying as well as justifying 
grace of God, they declare that " all that knew him well might 
say, if a man on earth possessed these blessings, surely it was 
Richard Whatcoat." 

Such was Richard Whatcoat, a man of God, an indefatigable 
evangelist, an apostolic -bishop, living the Gospel even better 
than he could preach it. Everywhere in New England where 
any traces of this good man's presence remain, they are redolent 
with the sanctity of his character. 

We have but few intimations of the business of the session. 
Asbury says, " We had great peace and union." Ralph Williston, 
from the Middle States, acted as secretary. The old records 
give us the following list of members who were in attendance : 
Jesse Lee, George Pickering, Joshua Wells, Joshua Taylor, 
Joshua Hall, Andrew Nichols, William Beauchamp, Thomas F. 
Sargeant, Daniel Fidler, Ralph Williston, Timothy Merritt, 
John Finnegan, Joseph Snelling, Asa Heath, Epaphras Kibby, 
Daniel Webb, Reuben Hubbard, Comfort Smith, Truman Bishop. 
The first twelve were elders, the rest deacons. Three persons, 
Nathan Emory, Elijah R. Sabin and John Merrick, were con- 
tinued on trial. Three were recommended by Quarterly Confer- 
ences to be received on trial. John Gove was recommended 
from Needham circuit, then an extensive field of labor, supplied 
by two preachers, now divided into numerous stations ; Joseph 
Baker was recommended from the Kennebec circuit, in Maine ; 
Daniel Ricker was also presented as a candidate, but was not 
received, the Conference considering that, being a married man, 
he could do better service to the church as a local preacher. 
Marriage was a serious impediment, in those days of long cir- 
cuits and small salaries. The records of this session contam 
some curious references to the subject, which show that it was 
a question of no little deliberation and solicitude. Of one 
preacher, the secretary notes, that " He was recommended to 
this Conference as a proper candidate for the travelling ministry, 
but was rejected, he being obliged by his promise to marry a 
certain person at some future though uncertain period, and it 
being uncertain how long, should his life be protracted, he would 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1800. 39 

continue in the travelling order. It was agreed, that should he 
be received, and travel but a short time, he, then desisting, would 
wound the cause, but may be useful as a local preacher." 

Even preachers previously received into the Itinerancy were 
called to account for incurring this formidable embarrassment, 
and the propriety of retaining them was discussed. 

A usage exists in Methodist Conferences which is without a 
parallel, we believe, in any other ecclesiastical body. Every 
member, however venerable with piety and long service, is 
annually subjected to a sort of judicial examination; put under 
a virtual arrest, even though there may not be an intimation 
against his character. No exception is admitted, save that of 
the presiding officer, who is tried, in a similar manner, at the 
General Conference. The member thus under examination 
must stand frankly before all his assembled brethren, any and 
all of whom may question him, or animadvert on his conduct. 
His faults, or even mannerisms, are deemed proper subjects of 
comment, and brotherly counsel ; if they amount to vices, the 
inquiry is converted into a formal trial, and adjudicated accord- 
ing to the laws of the church. This is a severe discipline, and 
might seem oppressive ; but it is self-imposed, it has the sanc- 
tion of primitive usage, it gives a peculiar confidence, and even 
tenderness, to the mutual relations of Methodist preachers, and 
has been very salutary in preserving the purity of the ministry. 
The records of 1800, though brief, contain some curious notes 
of these " examinations of character." They show the frank- 
ness, the simplicity and integrity, of our fathers. 

Elijah R. Sabin, still on trial, was examined. He travelled 
the Needham circuit the preceding year, and being a zealous, 
determined man, had been persecuted and mobbed in some of 
the villages where he preached in the open air ; he persisted 
nevertheless, though sometimes worsted by the mob, who silenced 
him with drum and fife. Some of his more fastidious brethren 
rebuked him in the Conference for his excessive zeal. Asbury, 
however, defended him, affirming that " this was the way Meth- 
odist preachers began, and we need warm hearts to carry the 



40 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

work forward."^ The secretary of the Conference records that 
he -'was carefully examined respecting his moral character, 
gifts, grace and usefulness, and was judged to be a pious and 
useful preacher. Some remarks were made on his attempt to 
introduce field-preaching ; but his zeal was applauded, and he 
was continued on trial." 

Joshua Soule, now senior Bishop of the M. E. Church South, 
had commenced preaching under the Presiding Elder in Maine. 
He was not present; but, being on trial, his character was 
Subjected to the usual examination. " A man of great talents, 
so called; and, though Brother Taylor, who spake concern- 
ing him, thought him in great danger of highmindedness, yet 
he, with others, judged that if Brother Soule continued humble 
and faithful, he would become a useful minister in our church and 
connection. Sustainmg a good moral character, he is continued 
on trial." 

Another member had ventured to marry in the preceding year. 
He was examined " respecting his character and present situa- 
tion. Having been married but a short time, he observed that 
he could leave his wife with her parents, and take a station as a 
travelling minister. It was, however, suggested that an incon- 
venience would attend his being continued on trial, on account of 
his wife ; that he would not be willing to go any great distance 
from her father's, and that it would be impracticable to give him 
a station near home ; but a vote passed that he should be contin- 
ued on trial — his moral character being unimpeachable." 

The venerable Asa Heath still survives, in the State of Maine. 
The Record says of him : " Having travelled two years as a pro- 
bationer, and having been a faithful and useful preacher, he, 
after due examination, was unanimously voted into the connec- 
tion, and elected to the office of a deacon in our church." 

Comfort Smith is said to " have travelled two years at his 
own expense," and is characterized as " a useful preacher," and 
as " sustaining a good moral character." 

Epaphras Kibby " passed examination ; and being accounted 
worthy, was unanimously voted into connection, and elected to 
the office of a deacon in our church." 

*Mem. of Int. ofMeth., p. -170. 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1800. 41 

Daniel Webb is pronounced " a man of unblemished charac- 
ter ; " and, " being examined, was voted into connection, and 
elected to the Deacon's office." 

John Finnegan was a unique character, excessive in his oddi- 
ties, yet full of shrewd sense, and a really holy man — a sort of 
humorous devotee. " Bro. Finnegan," says the record, " is truly 
a man of piety and good morals, but possesses peculiarities; 
hence he is not so well received as some when he first goes on 
to his circuit ; but though many things have been said respecting 
him, he was unanimously elected to the office of an elder in our 
church." 

Testimony is borne to "the unblemished character" of young 
Timothy Merritt, and he was " unanimously elected to the office 
of elder." 

" The elders were all examined," adds the secretary, " one 
by one, and counted worthy and useful men." 

One melancholy item stands among these brief but signifi- 
cant notices. Stephen Hull withdrew from the small pioneer 
band, following the example of his brother, Elias Hull, who had 
left them two years before. " The good Lord have mercy on 
him," say his brethren, in their record of the case. These broth- 
ers both became Congregational clergymen ; but, like most others 
who have deserted our ministry for the greater ease or emolu- 
ment of other positions, both were disappointed in their hopes, 
and one was " expelled from his new communion on charges of 
grave delinquency." ^ 

The Conference records contain also an account of the mon- 
eys received by the members present. The early Methodist 
preachers emphatically offered the Gospel to the people " with- 
out money and without price." The word " allowance " had 
been substituted in their Book of Discipline for the term " sal- 
ary." They did not, and do not now, stipulate with their congre- 
gations by any binding contract for a definite remuneration ; and 
though the Discipline specifies the amount of their " allowance," 
it is not received, on an average, in one-half the appointments, 
and no subsequent claim on the society remains when the amount 

* Mem. of Int. of Meth., p. 340. 
4# 



42 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

fails. Down to 1800, the receipts of each member were report- 
ed at the Conference, and after deducting his " quarterage," the 
surplus went towards equalizing as far as possible the deficit of 
his fellow-laborers. Even private presents, whether in clothing 
or money, were required to be reported and estimated in the 
apportionment. These self-sacrificing men were as one family 
in those days of privation, and what little they had, they had in 
common ; a fact which is as noble an illustration of their charac- 
ter as it is a painful proof of their sufferings. At the General 
Conference of 1800, this rule was altered so far as to exempt 
private donations from the estimate. Hitherto the *' allowance" 
had been $64, besides travelling expenses ; but the same General 
Conference raised it to $80, and allowed an equal amount for 
the wife or widow of the preacher, as also $16 for each child 
under seven years, and $24 for each over seven and under four- 
teen, — no provision being made for children after the latter age.^ 
As the General Conference at which these amendments were 
made had just been held, we suppose the allowances reported at 
the present Conference were rated according to the old rule. 
Hardly more than one-half of the members present had received 
the pittance of $64. George Pickering's receipts amounted to 
$47; Joseph Snelling's, $38; Joshua Soule's, $55; John 
Merrick's, $42 ; John Jones', $31. 

Some of the members were not only deficient in their quar- 
terage, but in their allowance for travelling expenses. Joshua 
Hall's aggregate deficit was $64 ; Joseph Snelling's, $74 ; John. 
Merrick's, $21, — no small proportion of their whole allowance. 
A considerable amount was eked out of subscriptions and 
donations, so that the aggregate deficit was reduced to $72.25. 
These items are not without historical significance. 

Such were the men of our ministry a half-century ago, and 
such their pecuniary reward. The receipts for their " travelling 
expenses " were quite small, as they usually started with the 
possession of a horse, and were entertained on their routes by their 
brethren. The actual cash received by them would not now be 

* In 1816, the " allowance " of preachers, their wives and widows, was raised to 
$100 per annum. The amount for children was not changed. 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1800. 43 

considered sufficient for the annual cost of clothing alone, though 
that expense has been reduced at least one-fourth since their day. 
They had no resources for the purchase of books, except what 
they obtained by selling the denominational publications on their 
extended circuits. This they did largely, not only for the pe- 
cuniary advantage, but for the moral influence of their circula- 
tion. Many of them were thorough -going colporteurs, as well 
as preachers. " Be diligent in this work," Wesley had written to 
his Itinerants ; " leave no stone unturned." The wandering 
evangelists carrying thus with them the works of Wesley, Fletch- 
er, &c., read them on horseback, or at the hearths of the cabins 
of the wilderness, after the night sermon and the retirement of 
the family. If they read less, they perhaps studied more, than 
their successors ; they followed the maxim of the classic author, 
" Read much, but read few books ;" and they usually became 
adepts in tbe Holy Scriptures and theology generally. 

Returns from the various circuits were reported during the ses- 
sion, and afforded much encouragement to the feeble but faithful 
band. It had been a year of wide-spread prosperity. A reform- 
ation had extended over the Bath and Union circuit, in Maine, 
under the tireless labors of the quaint John Finnegan ; he re- 
ported a gain of fifty members. Vermont had witnessed, under 
the labors of Elijah Hedding, Joseph Mitchell, Joseph Sawyer, 
Joseph Crawford and Elijah Chichester, the most remarkable 
effects of the power of the Gospel yet known to her citizens ; the 
truth "ran and was glorified " on each side of the Green Moun- 
tains, and jive hundred persons were added to the Methodist 
societies of the state, while hundreds, converted through Meth- 
odist instrumentality, entered other communions. Joshua Hall 
and Truman Bishop had good reports from Rhode Island ; their 
work had enlarged so much as to require the formation of a new 
circuit. In Connecticut the church had enjoyed a general out- 
pouring of the Spirit. Shadrach Bostwick, who had been Pre- 
siding Elder of the New London district, was not present, but 
Asbury had been informed by a letter from him of the prosper- 
ity of the circuits under his care. He wrote : — 

" The Lord has honored us with some of the most glorious 



44 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

times since Conference, that I have seen in New England. At 
our Middle Haddam Quarterly Meeting, which was the first for 
this circuit this year, the Lord came down with mighty power. 
Many were struck, and fell from their seats prostrate upon the 
floor, crying in bitter agonies, some for convex ting, and others 
for sanctifying grace. It happened well that Bro. McCombs and 
myself had been formerly favored with such scenes in the south, 
and well knew what to do. The New London friends carried 
the flame into the city, and this brought on a quickening there ; 
about sixteen members joined in one day, and many more in the 
circuit. Our second Quarterly Meeting for this circuit was at 
Canterbury, and a great time it was ; two precious souls pro- 
fessed to be converted, and the meeting continued nearly all the 
Sabbath night. Upon the whole, this circuit in general is in a 
graciously prosperous way. Old Tolland circuit, that formal 
dry one, has taken the start. Our first Quarterly Meeting 
was at Hartford, five miles ; the power of the Lord came down, 
and scarcely left a dry eye in the house ; two or three profe'=;sed 
to be converted, and five continued on their knees, begging for 
mercy, for near three hours. The work has spread rapidly in 
South Wilbraham ; about twenty souls have been brought into 
liberty there, and still the Lord is working ; and we have formed 
a little society there. Our second Quarterly Meeting in that 
circuit was in North Wilbraham chapel, and truly it was a time 
of joy and rejoicing. Three professed to be converted, and the 
whole congregation appeared to be melted into tears. The work 
has so increased and enlarged, that we have made a four weeks' 
circuit of it. We have had a precious Quarterly Meeting on 
Pomfret circuit ; our prospects are encouraging in this circuit 
also ; there have been some conversions and some additions there. 
Chesterfield circuit is in a far better way than it was last year ; 
some revivals ; and, at one of our Quarterly Meetings, two pro- 
fessed to be brought into liberty. Vershire circuit seems still 
travailing, and many precious souls are born into the kingdom. 
Our Quarterly Meetings have been rendered singularly useful 
there this year, and our friends seem much united, both to their 
preachers, discipline, one another, and to their Lord. 



1 



THE CONFERENCE OF 1800. 45 

"I have the happiness to inform you, that a spirit of love and 
union, both to doctrine, discipline, and each other, subsists 
amongst all our preachers in this district. I have conversed 
freely and particularly with them, and I believe there is not a 
jarring string." ^ 

The business of the Conference closed on Saturday, 19th of 
July. The preachers tarried in Lynn, however, during the Sab- 
bath, when the ordination services took place amidst a large as- 
sembly of Methodists gathered from the neighboring appoint- 
ments. Asbury addressed them from Matt. 9 : 36 — 38. " But 
when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compas- 
sion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad 
as sheep without a shepherd," &c. A long drought had pre- 
vailed, and " nature seemed as if she were about to droop and 
die." Much alarm existed among the husbandmen, and the 
preachers offered special prayer for a favorable change of the 
weather. " We addressed the throne of grace," says Asbury, 
"most fervently and solemnly, and had showers of blessings." 
While he preached, the " wind came up, and appeared to whirl 
round to every point;" the clouds gathered, and as the showers 
of grace were descending on the assembly, the rain fell copiously 
on the fields, and the multitude separated, rejoicing in what he 
calls " this signal instance of Divine goodness." The next day 
Asbury and Whatcoat were on their route to the south, and Lee 
the day following away to the north, preaching as usual by day 
and by night. 

* We are indebted to David Creamefj Esq., of Baltimore, for this letter. It was pub- 
lished in a rare volume, entitled "Extracts of Letters containing some account of the 
work of God since the year 1800, virritten by the ministers and members of the M. E. 
Church to their Bishops. — New York : E. Cooper and Jno. Wilson, 1805." 



CHAPTER IV. 

ASBURY AND WHATCOAT ITINERATING IN NEW ENGLAND. 

Boston. — Its first Methodist Chapel. — Waltham. — Benjamin Bemis. — Thompson, Con- 
necticut. — Captain Jonathan Nicholls. — Methodism in Thompson. — Asbury and What- 
coat there. — They advance Westward. — Quarterly Meeting on Litchfield Circuit. — 
Gaxrettson. — Mrs. Catherine Garrettson. — The Garrettson Homestead. 

The Conference at Lynn having adjourned, the bishops 
and Lee pursued their respective routes with their usual rapid- 
ity, scattering the good seed as they w^ent. On Monday, July 
21st, 1800, Asbury and Whatcoat reached Boston, where they 
tarried two days, preaching in the " tabernacle," as Asbury calls 
it, — the new Methodist chapel, then " nearly finished." It was a 
very humble frame building, for a long time unpainted, and 
furnished with a pine pulpit, and rude benches for seats. Its 
site — now occupied by a goodly public school-house, and still 
revered by Boston Methodists — was on Hanover Avenue, then 
known as Methodist Alley. Though begun in 1795, it was not 
completed till the present year; "and now," say its old records, 
"the troubled and persecuted society found, in some degree, 
rest to their souls." In these circumstances, the venerable 
bishops of Methodism arrived among them, and were received 
with great rejoicings. Asbury preached on the day of their 
arrival. The little flock were beset with trials ; they had been 
sorely persecuted, and, notwithstanding the qualified "degree of 
rest " mentioned in their records, they were yet often attacked 
by the rabble, in their humble chapel, and effectually interrupted 
in their worship. Many were converted among them, but the 
temptations to desert the lowly and contemned cause were 
strong. Asbury, therefore, addressed them from Heb. 3 : 12 — 14. 
" Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart 
of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one 



ASBURY AND WHATCOAT ITINERATING IN NEW ENGLAND. 47 

another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be 
hardened through the deceitfdness of sin. For we are made par- 
takers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence 
steadfast unto the end." On the following day, the congrega- 
tion assembled again, to hear Whatcoat. His devout spirit, 
anointed with the unction of grace, could not but share in the 
gladness and gratitude with which the brethren entered their 
nearly completed sanctuary ; and he addressed them from Psalms 
16 : 7 : — " Return unto thy rest, oh my soul ; for the Lord hath 
dealt bountifully with thee." Such visits and addresses in- 
spirited the struggling churches of those early days of trial, 
and left impressions which the few Methodists that remain 
from them retain with the interest with which the superannuated 
soldier recalls the campaigns of former years, and the cherished 
words of his commander. 

On Wednesday, they rode thirteen miles to Waltham, and sought 
a brief season of repose amidst the beautiful rural retirement of 
the homestead of Benjamin Bemis, who was one of the first 
Methodists in that town, and whose mansion, sequestered among 
hills, and surrounded with fragrant orchards, became not only a 
sanctuary for the worship of his rustic neighbors, but the favorite 
home of the weary Itinerants of Methodism. He was a man of 
wealth, and his hospitalities seemed only to enhance his pros- 
perity. Nearly all the great men of early New England Meth- 
odism were entertained beneath his roof, and proclaimed the 
" Glorious Gospel " in the shade of his trees, to the assembled 
yeomanry of the town. The conversion of many souls has con- 
secrated the spot, and its old historical reminiscences still endear 
it to the Methodists of the Eastern States. Its devoted pro- 
prietor lived to enjoy a happy and sanctified old age ; and died 
under its roof, in full hope of meeting his Itinerant brethren in 
heaven. It became the family residence of the venerable Pick- 
ering, who married the daughter of Bemis, and died triumph- 
antly amidst its veneratle associations.^ 

*The first Methodist church of Wallham (now the Weston society) was formed in 
the house of Mr. Bemis, and his own name v/as first on its class paper. Its chapel was 
erected more than fifty years ago, on a eite adjoining Weston and Lincoln. The first 
class consisted of eight members, six of whom bore the name of Bemis. One of them 



48 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

'Word had been previously sent to Waltham of the proposed 
visit of the bishops, and a congregation awaited their arrival. 
AsLury proclaimed to them, " I will give unto him that is athirst 
of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh 
shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be 
my son." Rev. 21 : 6, 7. The last verse was particularly 
applicable to their generous and pious host. 

Fatigued by the business of the late Conference, and by pre- 
vious travels, they needed rest ; but early on the third day they 
resumed their journey, still weary and ill. " We came," writes 
Asbury, " through Needham, Sherburne and Holliston, and made 
it thirty miles, over Crook's Hills, through excessive heat. We 
had not time to stop to feed, as we had appointed meeting at 
Milford, where we arrived a little after one o'clock. I was 
obliged to let Brother Whatcoat ride in the carriage, or I fear he 
would have fainted. This made me low-spirited, and unfit to 
answer questions." 

On the 26th, he writes, " We had to ride, through excessive 
warmth, thirty miles, to Thompson, Connecticut ; but we took 
the day for it. We got to Capt. Nicholls' about six o'clock, 
where we have a house built, and some ground to set our feet 
upon. I have been of late powerfully tempted, and distressed 
in mind and body." 

Capt. Jonathan Nicholls, in whose house he found a home 
here, was among the first friends of Methodism in Thompson, 
where his name will not soon be forgotten. The Conference of 
1796 was held in his dwelling. The society in this town, organ- 
ized by Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, had been in existence some six 
years, but was yet feeble. During a series of years, it had 
worshipped, first in an upper chamber of Capt. Benjamin Car- 
gill's house, and subsequently in a spacious kitchen of Noah 
Perrin's, — names still familiar to the Methodists of that region. 
The " house " to which Asbury refers, as now " built," was com- 

was Mary Bemis, the present venerable mistress of the homestead, who joined the 
society in her seventeenth year, and married Rev. Geo. Pickering two years afterwards. 
For an engraved view of this mansion, as it now appears, see the vignette of the 
" Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism into the Eastern States." 



ASBURY AND WHATCOAT ITINERATING IN NEW ENGLAND. 49 

menced in 1797. Like the new chapel at Boston, it was but 
the shell of a building; but hundreds of souls, now in the temple 
not made with hands, commenced, at its altar, their course 
heavenward. So sacred did this old structure become to the 
Methodists of Thompson, that when their present elegant edifice 
superseded it, the primitive altar and several of the slips were 
incorporated, unpainted and unvarnished, into their new vestry, 
as precious memorials. 

The people assembled on the next day after the arrival of the 
bishops, and Asbury ascended the rude pulpit, and preached to 
them from Mark 8 : 35 : — " And when he had called the people 
unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever 
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
and follow me." He exhorted the young church to faithfulness, 
and " opened the distinguishing conditions of discipleship, — the 
denial of self in every temper and affection that is evil. They 
that seek to save their lives by denying Christ, shall lose soul 
and body; if it is through pride and shame, Christ will not 
dishonor himself b}^ owning such in the day of judgment." The 
congregation assembled again in the afternoon, and listened to 
Whatcoat, while he exhorted them from " Acquaint now thyself 
with Him, and be at peace," &c. 

On Monday, 28th, " we rode," writes Asbury, " sixteen miles, 
to the north end of Eastford. We have travelled nearly one 
hundred miles since our departure from Lynn. My subject, at 
Joseph Work's, was Matt. 5 : 2 : — " Blessed are ye when men 
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of 
evil of you falsely, for my sake." We lodged at Nathan Palm- 
er's. We came on to Coventry, twenty miles. We stopped 
at John Searles', and were exceedingly well accommodated, 
both man and horse. 

" Wednesday, 30^A. — We rode to Mr. Spencer's, in Hartford. 
My mind is at peace, but I have uncomfortable feelings in my 
body. Here I met Brothers Bostwick and Burroughs. We 
have a house built in Spencertown for the Lord ; and now they 
are building one for the Lord's servants, — for the married 
preachers to live in who are sent to the circuit. 



50 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" Thursday, ^\st. — "Was excessively warm. We made it little 
less than thirty miles to Bristol ; we stopped to feed our horses, 
but neglected ourselves. When we came to Samuel Smith's, 
we were nearly outdone by excessive heat and hunger. This 
day we crossed Connecticut river, and passed the cities of 
Hartford and Farmington." 

They were now directing their course to the Quarterly Meet- 
ing of Litchfield circuit, where they expected to meet Freeborn 
Garrettson, the Presiding Elder of the district. Garrettson 
hailed them on the route. The next day, Saturday, August 
2, the Quarterly Conference began, but at what town on the 
circuit we have not been able to ascertain. Asbury preached. 
He was reminded everywhere, in those days of trial, and 
especially in New England, of the many temptations which 
tended to divert the people from the infant and persecuted 
cause of Methodism, and therefore incessantly exhorted the 
little flocks, as he passed rapidly among them, to fidelity and 
perseverance. On this occasion, he admonished the converts 
of Litchfield circuit from St. Peter's words : — "Ye therefore, 
beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye 
also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your 
own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Pet. 3 : 17, 18. The 
soul of the preacher kindled with his theme, and the people 
received his admonitions with emotion and tears. On the next 
day, which, being the Sabbath, was the high festival of the occa- 
sion, " we had," writes Asbury, " a living Love Feast. Some 
from Waterbury were fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. We 
had a crowded congregation, a close day, and the house was 
shut up. In consequence of my breast being weak, I declined 
speaking in public. Bishop Whatcoat preached, and F. Gar- 
rettson exhorted. Our meeting began at eight o'clock in the 
morning, and continued, with a few minutes' intermission, until 
two in the afternoon ; after which we came off, over dreadful 
roads, twelve miles, to Tarringford. I was pleased to see a 
house bought and fixed for Brothers Jocelyn and Batcheller, the 
stationed preachers of the circuit, and their wives." 



ASBURY AND WHATCOAT ITINERATING IN NEW ENGLAND. 51 

Leaving the circuit preachers to conduct the services of the 
remainder of the day, they departed, in the afternoon, with Gar- 
rettson, for his homestead, at Rhinebeck, preaching at Goshen, 
Cornwall, Sharon, and other places on the route. Garrettson 
had married Miss Catherine Livingston, a daughter of Judge 
Livingston, and sister of the well-known chancellor, — a lady of 
rare accomplishments, a correspondent of Lady Washington, 
Mrs. Warren, and other distinguished women of our revolution- 
ary epoch, and the personal friend of Washington, Hamilton, 
Jay, &c. The vigorous and thoughtful mind of this noble 
woman led her to discover in Methodism the sterling doctrines 
of the Gospel, and to embrace them courageously, notwith- 
standing any apparent incompatibility of the social character of 
the new sect with her own social position. She united her lot 
with that of the heroic Garrettson, and died, in 1849, after a 
pilgrimage of more than ninety-six years, which had been 
distinguished by one of the most beautiful developments of 
character, and most useful lives, known in the annals of the 
American church.^ Their residence, on the eastern shore of 
the Hudson, still remains, amidst one of the most charming 
pictures of that beautiful scenery. It continues to be, as it was 
in Garrettson's day, a temple for the neighborhood, and an asy- 
lum of hospitality especially to Methodist preachers, who are 
always welcomed at its door with the benediction, " Come in, 
thou blessed of the Lord." While Garrettson sheltered his 
family in this rural retreat, it was but his head-quarters, whither 
he resorted for occasional repose — not to escape from his duties. 
His stations were sometimes as remote from it as Philadelphia ; 
and he retired permanently to it only when age compelled 
him to give up his ministerial travels. I have referred to this 
venerable mansion, so historically notable in the church, because 
it was long a sort of outpost of the New York Conference before 
the New England Methodist field, whence Asbury, Whatcoat, 
Garrettson, and other veterans, used to come forth on their 
ministerial incursions, and whither they returned for rest. 

* For a fuller account of Mrs. Garrettson, see President Olin's sermon at her funeral, 
Meth. Book Rooms, N. Y., 1851 ■ and "Sketches from the Study of a Superannuated 
Itinerant." Peirce: Boston, 1851. 



52 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

The two bishops — exhausted by incessant preaching, and 
" not less than five hundred and fifty miles " riding since they 
entered New England, and between eighty and ninety miles 
within three days, with daily sermons — arrived at the favorite 
homestead, with grateful hearts, on Wednesday, 6th. They 
spent there several days. " The tired Asbury says, " We regaled 
ourselves and horses upon the pleasant banks of the Hudson, 
where the passing and repassing of boats and small craft, per- 
haps fifty in a day, is a pleasant sight ; " and of Garrettson's 
mansion he remarks, " He hath a beautiful land and water 
prospect, and a good, simply elegant, useful house, for God, his 
people and the family." On the twelfth, the apostolic men 
were away again on their route over the continent, preaching 
almost daily, as they went. We take reluctant leave of them 
till their return. 



CHAPTER Y. 

LEE'S TRAVELS IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1800. 

Lee's Jom-ney northward. — Interview with the young Chm-ch at Monmouth. — Kent's 
llill. — Hampden. — Josiah Newhall. — Mrs. Peckett. — Lower Canada. — St. Alban's. — 
Philip Embury. — Arrives at New York. — Review of his Labors. 

Lee, when he left New England for the General Conference 
at Baltimore, in the preceding spring, had every reason to believe 
that he should return from Baltimore clothed with Episcopal 
powers, to superintend the great ecclesiastical work which he 
had now, for several years, been extending, both in the Southern 
and Eastern States, with an agency unequalled except by that 
of Asbury. His disappointment did not, as we have noticed, 
damp his zeal, nor the regards of his New England brethren. 
He was received at the Lynn Conference as the father of east- 
ern Methodism. 

The Conference having adjourned, Asbury and Whatcoat left, 
as we have seen, on Monday, the 21st of July, for the west and 
south. Lee departed the next day for the east and north. He 
designed to pass through the whole northern field into Canada, 
and back to New York by the Hudson ; and as it was to be his 
last tour in New England, except a hasty visit, some eight years 
afterwards, it possesses an impressive interest, notwithstanding 
the very meagre notes of it which remain. He left Lynn alone, 
after dinner, but met at Beverly one of the preachers, Ralph 
Williston, who became his travelling companion through much 
of the rest of this journey. On Tuesday, the 29th, they rode 
*' through Dover, and so out of New Hampshire, into the 
Province of Maine." By Tuesday, August 5th, they reached 
Monmouth, where he had, some years before, formed the first 
Metiiodist society of Maine. A new chapel had been erected 
for its accommodation ; and the little band, still maintaining the 
5^ 



54 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

fellowship of the Gospel, m that then remote wilderness, received 
him with overflowing hearts and weeping eyes. He preached 
in the morning " at Mr. Blake's," some distance from the chapel, 
and had " a precious time." He describes the church as " a 
loving, happy people, who wept and rejoiced together," at hear- 
ing him once more ; and his " own soul" he says, "was lost in 
love and praise." The Methodists there, he writes, " were all on 
fire " with Christian zeal and love. In the afternoon they 
assembled at their new chapel, to hear him again, when he 
addressed them some affecting farewell counsels, from 1 John 
2: 28 : — " And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He 
shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed 
before Him at His coming." " I had," he writes, "a very large con- 
gregation, and a happy time. The people were deeply affected, 
and the power of the Lord was in the midst of us. I was greatly 
revived at seeing many of my old friends, and many of my own 
spiritual children, who were engaged in religion. 

" Wednesday, 6th. — I rode to Kent's Hill, in Readfield, and 
preached in our new meeting-house, to a large congregation of 
attentive hearers ; they were much engaged with the Lord. I 
found my soul happy in God, and was much assisted in preach- 
ing. The friends stopped after meeting, and I spoke largely to 
the society by way of advice, and directed them how to conduct 
themselves as Christians. I also stopped the local preachers 
and exhorters, and drew a plan for them to hold meetings on the 
Sabbath, so as not to be idle, or in each other's way. I was 
closely engaged in the business till dark. I had a happy time 
amongst my old friends, and found them much more alive to 
God than they were when I left them. Our friends have built 
a good meeting-house in the place. I hope it will be a lasting 
blessing to the neighborhood. 

" Mondaij, 18tk. — 1 swam my horse across Penobscot river, 
and in Hampden meeting-house, at three o'clock, I preached on 
Luke 7 : 50. I had a comfortable time in preaching to the people. 
As the meeting-house was not finished below stairs, I took the 
congregation into the gallery, and preached to them there. 
Then I took leave of my Penobscot friends, but not without pain- 



LEE S TRAVELS IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1800. o5 

ful sensations, as I thought it probable that I should never see 
them again. I then rode to Brother Isaac Davis', on Jordan 
Brook, and stayed all night with him. 

*' Tuesdmj, \9th. — I rode through to the Twenty-five Mile 
Pond, about twenty miles. When I first travelled this road, 
about seven years ago, there was no house in all the distance, 
and now there are nearly twenty. I got to John Chaise's, at the 
Twenty-five Mile Pond, about three o'clock, and at four o'clock I 
preached. We had a happy time together ; saints and sinners 
felt the power of truth. 

" Saturday, Septemher %th. — We set out early in the morn- 
ing, and rode out to Connecticut river, at Northumberland meet- 
ing-house ; there I left my travelling companion, and rode down 
the river, through Lancaster, Dolton, and into Littleton, where 
I was hailed and stopped by Josiah Newhall, an old acquaint- 
ance of mine, who had moved up into the country ; I consented 
to stay all night with him, and was thankful to find a house, 
though but a small log cabin, where I could lay my head in 
peace ; myself and horses were weary. ^ I was greatly pleased 
with that part of the country. It was generally level and rich 
land near the river, though most of the settlements were new. 
The mountains on both sides of the river, and the rising grounds at 
a distance, made a beautiful appearance. The country promises 
to be very fruitful, and I doubt not but religion will flourish in 
this country before long. Our preachers have lately formed a 
circuit there, called LandafF, I rode one hundred and forty-five 
miles, and preached six times, that week. 



*Rev. Matthew Newhall, now in the Methodist ministry, and son of Josiah Newhall, 
aays, " My father joined the first society in Lynn, Mass., in the spring of 1791, and has 
been a steadfast Methodist for almost sixty years. In 1793 he removed to New Hamp- 
shire, and in 1S04 to Wethersfield, in Vermont. I have one brother and one sister ; 
we were severally baptized by Jesse Lee, Ezekiel Cooper, and Shadrach Bostwick, — 
names familiar to many as the pioneers of Methodism in New England. My father's 
house has always been a welcome home for the faithful Itinerants. In olden times 
Methodists were few and far between; and there was reciprocal joy when the weary 
preacher returned from his ride to spend a short time with those who felt a deep interest 
for the salvation of souls. I might mention a long list of venerated names, from the 
days of Asbury, and Lee, that were our choice guests." — Christian Advocate and Jour- 
nal, April, 1849. 



56 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" Wednesday, \^th. — I preached in Bradford. We had prayer- 
meeting at night. There I saw old sister Peckett, who formerly 
lived in Mr. Wesley's family, in London. She came to America, 
and settled where she now lives, in the State of Vermont. She 
was, for a great number of years, deprived of the privilege of 
hearing the Methodists preach, for we had no preacher in that 
part of the world. Yet the Lord spared her to see an answer to 
her many prayers, and the Gospel is now preached in her neigh- 
borhood by the Methodists, and the Lord has done wonders by 
their ministry already." 

This venerable lady, now in heaven, had an important instru- 
mentality in the introduction of Methodism into Vermont, as 
we shall hereafter see. Her house was a home for the first 
Methodist Itinerants who entered that state. She had not only 
been housekeeper to Wesley, but a " bandmate " of Miss Bosan- 
quet, afterwards Mrs. Fletcher of Madely. She was deeply 
versed in Christian experience, and had in her rustic dwelling, 
amidst the wilderness of Vermont, most of the works of Wesley, 
and was thereby enabled to make known to her neighbors the 
peculiarities of the new denomination. Her religious influence 
was most salutary and manifest. Laban Clark, Martin Ruter, 
and others among our primitive ministry, who were raised up in 
Vermont, found her a mother in Israel, and received from her 
much of their early religious guidance. Her name is precious 
ir. our annals. 

" On Saturday, 20th," continues Lee's Journal, "I rode very 
early in the morning, and went, through Fairfax, to St. Alban's, 
where I dined. Then through Swantown, and crossed Mis- 
sisque river, and went through Highgate, to St. Ormond's, or 
Dunn's Patent, in Lower Canada, and put up at Peter Miller's, 
who was very kind. There I met with Peter Vannest, one of 
the preachers of the circuit. This was the first time I ever 
visited Lower Canada. I was charmed with the country ; it 
was very rich and level, and healthy withal. I was then at 
Missisque Bay, on the north-east side of Lake Champlain. 
When I look back on my past travels, I am astonished at the 



57 

goodness of God towards me, in preserving my health, and 
keeping me from departing from him. 

" Sunday, 2\st. — At the Widow Hogle's, at eight o'clock in 
the morning, we held a Love Feast, and the young converts, as 
well as some old disciples, spoke very feelingly and freely of 
their experiences. I was truly happy in God, and wept much 
amongst my brethren. Then, at ten o'clock, I preached on Gen. 
19 : 17. There was a great move amongst the people, and 
they wept in every part of the house. Then we administered 
the Lord's Supper, and our good God was pleased to meet us a1 
his table, and we did sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus 
At one o'clock, I preached again, on Psa. 1 : 1. Some of thcr 
people were so overcome with the power of God that they fainted, 
or sunk down into the arms of their friends, or upon the floor. I 
then took leave of Canada and my Canada brethren, and rode 
back to the State of Vermont, and down to Church's, in St. 
Alban's ; and at night I preached on Titus 2 : 12. I had a sweet 
time in preaching to the strange people, and they were remark- 
ably attentive, and heard as though it had been for their lives. 
Then Brother Peter Vannest exhorted, with some life. We had 
a crowded house. I have seen no town in Vermont that appears 
to be so good for farmers as St. Alban's. I was glad to get to 
bed as soon as the people were dispersed, having rode eighteen 
miles, preached three times, held a Love Feast, and administered 
the Lord's Supper; and, withal, it was a wet day. Brother 
Peter Miller, after we left his house that day, came after us, 
to travel with me for a week. I was thankful for his com- 
pany. 

" Saturday, 21th. — We rode through Pawlet and Euport, and 
then out of the State of Vermont, into the State of New York. 
I had been in Vermont eighteen days, including one day which 
I spent in Canada, and had preached twenty-three sermons. 
We then rode through Salem, to Peter Sweetzer's, where we 
stayed all night. On that plantation Philip Embury died, who 
was the first Methodist preacher who ever preached in New 
York. He was an Irishman by birth, and a house-joiner by 
trade. I heard that he died very happy in God." 



68 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

He proceeded on, preaching in Cambridge, Troy, New Leb- 
anon, and then in the State of Massachusetts, and Connecticut; 
on the 14th of October, he arrived in the city of New York, on 
which day he has the following remarks : " Here I will observe, 
that it was twelve weeks, to a day, from the time I left Lynn, 
near Boston , till I got to New York ; in which time, I rode 
twelve hundred and sixty-three computed miles, and had 
preached eighty-nine sermons. In that tedious journey the 
Lord favored me, both in body and soul." 

During this circuitous and rapid route, his preaching averaged 
more than one sermon a day ; he was continually occupied also 
in social prayer and counsels with the infant churches. Much 
of his travelling was on new and rugged roads and through 
forests, and his entertainment was usually in log cabins. He 
now leaves New England, to reappear but once more, and casu- 
ally, within its limits, but to pursue on his evangelic course, 
with unabated heroism, in other fields. The foundations of 
Methodism had been laid by him in all the Eastern States : 
a large Conference had been organized ; chapels had sprung up ; 
more than fifty preachers were moving to and fro, proclaiming the 
" great salvation " through extended but organized circuits, and 
nearly six thousand converts were recorded on the roll of the 
church. A great moral work had been achieved, and a great 
man had left his stamp upon the ecclesiastical history of all New 
England. His name, until recently, has been but little noted 
beyond the pale of his own denomination ; but his instrumentality 
is developing broader and broader results, as time elapses ; and 
the future ecclesiastical historian of these Eastern States will 
place him among the foremost men of their religious annals. 



CHAPTER VI. 

APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS IN 1800—1. 

Apiwintments. — Itinerant Corps for the Year. — Dr. Thomas F. Sargent. — His Conversion. — 
Commencement of his Ministry. — His Appointments. — His Character and Death. — 
Joshua "Wells. — His Appointments. — Characteristics.— His Retirement from Public Life. — 
Henry Ryan. — His Appointments. — His Character. — Extraordinaiy Energy. — Enthu- 
siasm. — Defection. 

The following were the appointments in New England for 
the ecclesiastical year 1800-1. George Pickering, Presiding 
Elder. Warren and Ch-eenwich, Joseph Snelling and Solomon 
Langdon ; Sandwich, Daniel Fiddler ; Rhode Island, Joshua Hall ; 
Needham, John Finnegan and Nathan Emery ; Boston, Thomas 
F. Sargent ; Lynn and Marhlehead, Joshua Wells ; Merrimac, 
Andrew Nichols ; Hawke, Ralph Williston; Provincetown, John 
Merrick ; Nantucket, William Beauchamp. 

Joshua Taylor, Presidiiig Elder. Bath and Union, Timothy 
Merritt, Eeuben Hubbard ; Norridgeicock, Daniel Webb ; Union 
River, Joshua Soule; Penobscot, John Gone; Portland, Asa 
Heath; Readjield, Epaphras Kibby, Comfort C. Smith; Bethel, 
Joseph Baker. 

John Brodhead Presidhig Elder. Tolland, Abner Wood ; New 
London, Daniel Brumly and Alexander McLane ; Pomfret, 
Daniel Ostrander; Chesterfield, Henry Eames; Wethersfield, 
John Nichols; Vershire, Timothy Dewy; Landaff, Elijah R. 
Sabin. 

Shadrach Bostwick, Presiding Elder. Cambridge, Ezekiel 
Canfield and Ebenezer Stevens ; Vergennes, Henry Ryan and 
Robert Dyer; Essex, Peter Vannest ; Pittsfieldand Wliitingham, 
Michael Coate and Joseph Mitchell; Granville, B. Hibbard and 
Truman Bishop. 

The appointments on - the first two of these Districts were 
made at the New England Conference ; the others, though within 



60 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

New England, were made at the New York Conference. The 
Districts to which the latter pertained were wholly within the 
Eastern States, except that of Shadrach Bostwick, which in- 
cluded Cambridge and Plattsburgh circuits, — the first partly, the 
second wholly, in the State of New York. To this list should 
be added the following circuits, which were on the New York 
District (then under the Presiding Eldership of the venerable 
Freeborn Garrettson), though in the State of Connecticut, viz : — 
Redding, Augustus Jocelyn ; Litchfield, Aaron Hunt and Elijah 
Bachelor ; Middletown, James Coleman and Elijah Searle. 

The ministerial field of Methodism for the ecclesiastical year 
1800 — 1801 comprehended then four Districts, and part of a fifth 
(one third of it, at least), thirty-two circuits and stations, and 
(including Garrettson, whose labors were largely within Con- 
necticut) fifty-eight preachers. 

Among the names of preachers who appeared the present 
year for the first time, in the list of the New England appoint- 
ments, is that of Dr. Thomas F. Sargent. He was born April 
10, 1776, in Frederick County, Maryland, of devout parents, who 
were early members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
trained their household in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. In his eighteenth year, he received deep religious impres- 
sions in a prayer-meeting, and soon found " peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." "His conversion," says his 
son, Rev. T. B. Sargent, "as described by himself in after 
years, was clear, sound and decided. There was a conviction of 
actual sin, and of the natural depravity which led to it, and the 
awful exposure to Divine wrath and endless ruin which follows 
it ; godly sorrow working repentance towards God, with earnest 
prayer to God for mercy and grace, and other fruits meet for 
such repentance ; faith in Christ as the amply sufficient Saviour 
of sinners, able and willing, by his atoning blood and Almighty 
Spirit, to save fully and eternally those who are without might 
or merit of their own ; and in consequence of this act of faith, he 
received into his heart the promised Spirit as the comforter^ 
witnessing his pardon and adoption, and thereby filling him with 
peace and joy, and as a sanctifier, working in him a death unto 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS IN 1800-1. 61 

sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, which produced in him 
holiness of heart and life." 

This gracious change took place in 1793. He was immedi- 
ately received into the Methodist Episcopal church, by the ven- 
erable Joshua Wells. Subsequently he believed himself called 
by the Holy Ghost to the ministry of the Word. His abilities 
for the responsible work were previously exercised and improved 
as an " Exhorter " in his native neighborhood. The cross was 
almost insupportable ; and in his first attempt at preaching, which 
was occasioned near his home, by the unexpected absence of the 
circuit preacher, his trepidation was so great that it afTected his 
sight, and the further end of the chapel seemed to have sunk 
several feet below the part on which he stood. He was blessed, 
however, with Diyine assistance, and urged by his brethren to take 
courage, and go forth " enduring hardness," as a good soldier of 
the Lord Jesus. On continuing his labors as a local preacher, 
he was so succeeded, by the blessing of God, in the conversion 
of his hearers, that he resolved to give himself wholly to the 
work of the ministry ; and accordingly left his father's house in 
1794, by the call of the Presiding Elder, and travelled Talbot 
and Kent circuits, on the eastern shore of Maryland, on each of 
which he spent six weeks. He suffered severely from attacks 
of fever and ague on these circuits, and was transferred, for his 
relief, to the Philadelphia Conference, the next year, and appoint- 
ed to Chester and Lancaster circuit. His name appears this 
year for the first time in the Minutes. His subsequent appoint- 
ments were, in 1796, Carlisle circuit, which extended far up the 
Juniata, in Pennsylvania ; 1797, Baltimore; 1798, Frederick, his 
native circuit; 1799, New York; ISOO, Boston; 1801, Boston, 
Lynn, and Marblehead; 1802, New York; 1803, Philadelphia; 
1804 and 1805, Baltimore; 1806 and 1807, Alexandria, D. C. ; 
1808, Georgetown, D. C. ; from 1809 to 1812, Philadelphia. In 
1813, he located, through domestic necessities. In 1824 he was 
received into the Philadelphia Conference as a supernumerary, and 
was appointed to the Union charge, in that city, till 1832, when he 
removed to Cincinnati. He was transferred to the Ohio Con- 
ference the next year, and appointed as a supernumerary in Cin- 
6 



62 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

cinnati, where, on the 29th of December, 1833, he fell in the 
pulpit under an apoplectic attack, and expired in the sanctuary. 
He labored as an Itinerant preacher about twenty years ; and 
when the magnitude of his family compelled him to locate, his 
sermons were scarcely less frequent than before. It is said 
that scarcely a week passed in which he did not perform some 
act of ministration in the charge to which he belonged. His 
acceptability, as a preacher, never abated ; his services were in 
constant demand in Philadelphia, not only among the Methodis 
churches, but among Presbyterians, Baptists and Lutherans, 
who justly esteemed him as an excellent citizen, and a devoted 
minister of the Lord Jesus. His local influence in the city was 
extensive and salutary for Methodism. He was an officer of the 
" Bible Society of Philadelphia," from its origin .till his removal 
to the west He was president of the "Missionary Society 
of the Philadelphia Conference," from its foundation, and of the 
" Chartered Fund of the M. E. Church," during several years. 
He was a chief manager of the Conference, Sunday-school 
Society, president of the Trustees of the Union Church, and an 
officer of many other public institutions, in all of which his 
abilities and influence were invaluable. He was a delegate to 
the General Conference at five successive sessions, and took a 
prominent part in their deliberations. During his residence in 
Philadelphia, he practised as a physician with high respect- 
ability, having thoroughly studied that profession, some years 
before, in the University of Pennsylvania, under Bush, Physic, 
and other eminent professors. Though he commenced his min- 
istry with but slight preparatory education, such was the natural 
vigor of his faculties, and the assiduity of his studies, that he 
acquired an extensive knowledge of general literature; and his 
acquaintance with theology and medicine was pronounced pro- 
found. His piety was cheerful, zealous and uniform. His pulpit 
discourses were characterized by variety of topics and illustra- 
tions, perspicuity of style, and the force of a genuine eloquence. 
His bearing was peculiarly dignified ; his person tall and corpu- 
lent ; his hair white with age ; his features large, and expressive of 
manliness and benignity ; his articulation distinct and sonorous. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS IN 1800-1. 63 

We have mentioned the suddenness of his decease. His 
widow thus refers to it: — "For some weeks before the awful 
event, the Lord was drawing him very near to himself, and 
preparing him for his great change. You know he was always 
kind; but there was now an unusual kindness and tenderness 
to the children and myself; and uncommon fervor and unction 
attended his prayers, both in the family and in public. His 
preaching is much talked of, especially his Christmas morning 
sermon. His prayer, in the family, on that morning, will never 
be forgotten. O, my dear children, let us take comfort, and 
follow him, as he followed Christ! On Sabbath morning he 
rose as usual, and then breakfasted. Just before going to church, 
he observed that his breakfast did not set well : we went, how- 
ever, and Brother Elliott preached, and your father made the 
concluding prayer, which was most comprehensive and delight- 
ful. He ate a very light dinner, and observed, that as he had 
to preach at night, he would not go out in the afternoon. I 
went, and took the four youngest children with me. When we 
returned, he was lying on the sofa. I said to him, ' Why, dear, 
I find you where I left you.' He replied, ' Yes ; but I have not 
been here all the time. I have been preparing to preach. I 
wish you would hurry coffee ; I think it will help my head, 
which aches,' We soon had coffee ; he drank two cups, ate but 
little, and said, on rising from the table, ' Don't hurry your- 
selves ; I '11 go on to the meeting.' " ^ 

Soon the melancholy tidings were brought to the door that 
he was taken sick in the church. The family hastened thither, 
but found him stretched on a pallet, below the pulpit, dead. He 
had been seized, while conducting the exercises, with apoplexy, 
and was suddenly translated from the church militant to that 
which is triumphant. His labors in New England are still 
remembered with interest by the few veteran Methodists who 
remain from that early period. 

Another eminent name in this list of appointments is that of 
Joshua Wells. We have failed to obtain any satisfactory 
narrative of his life. The bare catalogue of his appointments, 

* Letter to her son^ Rev. T. B. Sargent. 



64 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

however, speaks significantly of his long and useful labors. He 
joined the Itinerancy in the year 1789, and was sent to Bath 
circuit, Maryland. His subsequent circuits were, in 1790, 
Hartford; 1791, Calvert; 1792, Montgomery ; 1793, Frederick; 
1794, Rockingham; the next two years he was a presiding 
elder in the Baltimore Conference. The two years following, he 
was stationed in New York city, with Roberts and Beauchamp ; 
and during his residence there, he became acquainted with the 
New England preachers, being sent to the Conference at North 
Wilbraham, Massachusetts, by Asbury, who was disabled by 
sickness on the route."^ The next year, he was transferred to 
New England, and continued here three years, laboring at Bos- 
ton, Lynn and Nantucket, respectively. Distant transferences 
were common in those days. In 1802, he returned to the Mid- 
dle States, and was stationed in Baltimore, with Samuel Coate, 
Lawrence McCoombs, William Ryland, and other men vener- 
able in our history. He continued in Baltimore two years, and 
in 1804 was removed to Philadelphia. He labored, during the 
ensuing six years, on Chestertown and Wilmington circuits, in 
Washington city, and on Baltimore and Hartford circuits. The 
next four years, he travelled Baltimore district, presiding over 
the labors of a host of notable men, among whom were Asa 
Shinn, William Ryland, Ezekiel Cooper, Henry Smith, Stephen 
G. Rozzel, Beverly Waugh, and Alfred Griffith. The four subse- 
quent years he labored in Baltimore, and the years 1819 and 
1820, in Alexandria, D. C. In 1821, he was returned among 
the " superannuated and worn-out preachers " of Baltimore Con- 
ference. He continues on the superannuated list till the present 
day, a venerated remnant of our primitive ministry, and the 
oldest Methodist minister whose name stands on the roll of our 
Itinerancy. 

Mr. Wells is dignified and robust in person ; his features are 
strongly marked, and yet benignant. His sermons were noted 
for their perspicuity and brevity, their masculine sense, clear 
and vigorous argumentation, and successful effect. He was dis- 
tinguished as a disciplinarian. The only record of his life 

* TiCe's Memoirs, chap. xiv. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS IN 1800-1. 65 

which we have met, consists of the following sentences : — 
" On the 9th of September, 1789, I believe God, in mercy, par- 
doned my sins, and converted my soul. From that time, I have 
been striving to serve the Lord, to be useful to my fellow-men, 
and to stand prepared to meet death triumphantly. In June, 
1789, 1 commenced my itinerant labors, in which I travelled and 
suffered much ; but have been encouraged by these and similar 
words, — ' As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.' " ^' 

Since his " superannuation," Mr. Wells has, until within a 
few years, occupied a prominent place on the list of the local 
preachers' appointments, in the city and vicinity of Baltimore. 
His advanced years have required him to cease from even these 
occasional labors. He now lives, in almost entire seclusion and 
repose, at his country residence, a few miles from Baltimore, 
where his declining days are relieved by the abundant comforts 
of wealth, and the still more precious consolations of sanctified 
remembrances and hopes. 

Henry Ryan joined the Conference this year, and was ap- 
pointed to Vergennes circuit, which he travelled during two 
years. His subsequent appointments were, 1802, Fletcher, 
Vermont, with Elijah Hedding; 1803 and 1804, Plattsburg, 
New York ; in 1805, he went to Upper Canada, to labor with 
the little band of eight preachers, who, under the presiding 
eldership of Samuel Coate, were founding Methodism in that 
wilderness country. He was associated with the devoted Wil- 
liam Case, on the Bay of Quintie circuit, the present year, and 
the ensuing year sustained the labors of the circuit alone. In 
1807, he travelled Long Point circuit ; 1808 and 1809, Niagara ; 
in 1810, 1811 and 1812, he superintended the Upper Canada 
district. No returns were made from Canada in the years 
1813 and 1814, and we have therefore failed to trace his 
career during that interval ; but, in 1815, he reappears, as 
Presiding Elder of Lower Canada district ; the next year he 
returned to Upper Canada, resuming the charge of its district, 
which he continued to superintend till 1820, when he was 
again transferred to the Lower Canada district. The following 

* Letter of D. Creamer, Esq., of Baltimore, to the author. 

6=^ 



66 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

year, he was appointed to the Bay of Quintie district, and 
continued in that laborious field till 1S24, when he accepted an 
appointment as " Missionary to the Chippeway and Grand River 
Falls, and the new destitute settlements in those parts." In 
1825, after a quarter of a- century spent in the hardest fields 
of the Itinerancy, in New England and both Canadas, he was 
returned among the superannuated or worn-out preachers of 
the Canada Conference. 

He was an Irishman by birth, and was characterized by an 
inextinguishable zeal and unfaltering energy. No difficulty 
could obstruct his course ; he drove over his vast circuits, and 
still larger districts, preaching continually, and pressing on with 
all speed from one appointment to another. Neither the com- 
forts nor the courtesies of life ever delayed him. When on 
Fletcher circuit, Vt., with Bishop Hedding, in 1802, their rouies 
intersected at the junction of two roads, where, when they met, 
Eyan's usual salutation was, " Drive on, brother, — drive on ! let 
us drive the devil out of the country !" and he was away for 
his next preaching place. In Canada his labors were Herculean ; 
he achieved the work of half a score of men, and was instru- 
mental in scattering the word of life through vast portions of 
that new country, when few other clergymen dared to venture 
among its wildernesses and privations. Not only did he labor 
gigantically, but he also suffered heroically from want, fatigue, bad 
roads, and the rigorous winters of those high latitudes. With his 
indomitable energy there was combined, as might be supposed, 
an erratic disposition; and in 1827 he withdrew from the 
connection, and afterwards founded the sect of the Ryanites, in 
Canada. We know nothing of his subsequent career. True to 
his national character, he had the energetic enthusiasm, without 
the sound prudence, which distinguished his associates of our 
elder ministry. Enthusiasm is an essential trait of any avail- 
able form of religion ; — when it is absent, religion is devital- 
ized. Methodism, while it prompted enthusiasm, provided, like 
Popery, safe means upon which it could be expended. Directed 
into schemes of extraordinary activity and usefulness, it took a 
beneficent and heroic character, and was preserved from aber- 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS IN 1800-1. 67 

rations which would have been inevitable, if it had been less 
absorbingly employed. Hence, with the scarcely paralleled 
energy of primitive Methodism, doctrinal heresies were hardly 
known ; the denomination was never disturbed by theological 
novelties, the wholesome divinity of the Anglican church and 
the systematic regimen of Wesley were steadfastly maintained. 
Even the zeal and energy of such men as Ryan found enough 
employment to absorb them in the practical demands of the 
Itinerancy ; he " drives everything before him," was the remark 
of his colleagues ; yet not till he retired into the ineffective 
ranks, and was released from labor, did he develop any question- 
able tendencies. He was, however, a truly heroic Evangehst, 
and we take leave of him with regret for the unfortunate con- 
clusion if his indomitable career. 



CHAPTER YII. 

FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800—1. 

Hibbard, — His early History. — Religious Experience. — Yisit of a Methodist Preacher. 
— Begins to " exhort." — Usefulness. — Enters the Itinerancy. — Sufferings. — His Ap- 
pointments. — His Death and Character. — Converted Dutchman. — Daniel Fiddler. — 
His Appointments. — His Death. — Freeborn Garrettson. — His Religious Experience. — 
Enters the Ministry. — Imprisonment. — Travels. — Character, — Death. 

The peculiar genius of Methodism — its generous and intel- 
ligible theology, its warmth and enthusiasm, and energetic practi- 
cal system — attracted to it men of earnest and original charac- 
ter, — men of large affections and restless enterprise ; and yet, as 
we have remarked in the case of Henry Ryan, its stringent reg- 
imen regulated their energy, and preserved them from dangerous 
aberrations. 

B. Hibbard, whose name appears in the New England 
appointments for this year, was one of these original and marked 
men. His peculiarities, usually humorous, and always kindly 
and devout, as well as forceful and useful, rendered him some- 
what notable in his day. He has left memoirs of his arduous 
ministerial life, which will afford us occasional illustrations of 
our early denominational history. 

He was born in Norwich, Conn., February 24, 1771, of parents 
who observed the early religious strictness of that common- 
wealth, and trained him in the doctrines of the Puritan faith. 
In very early life, his singularly constituted mind became 
absorbed in religious meditation ; and notwithstanding a consti- 
tutional and exuberant flow of humor, he was plunged in pro- 
found melancholy. He needed more benign and accurate 
views of scriptural theology than his education afforded him. 
♦' I made it a practice," he writes, " to use such language in prayer 
as this, — ' O Lord, teach me my sins ! ' Then I would wait to 
have some sin brought to my thoughts : sometimes I had many 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 69 

sins brought to my remembrance, for which I would ask pardon 
with weeping eyes, expressing my sincere sorrow for them ; at 
other times when I said this short prayer, I would add, * and help 
me to repent aright,' for I thought if I did not repent aright, I 
should be justly damned for unfaithfulness in repenting; and 
lest I should be guilty of ' using vain repetitions as the heathen 
do,' I would wait solemnly, with my mind intently fixed on God, 
for an answer. I read the Scriptures with greater attention than 
ever, and in private I would weep and m.ourn for my sins. I had 
some fears that I should not find mercy at last : nevertheless, I 
pmyed heartily that the Lord would spare my life until I could 
completely repent. At one time I felt encouraged, that if I 
were faithful, I should repent enough by the time I was thirty 
years old ; but after a while I began to see that my sins were 
greater than I had thought them to be, that I had not felt sorrow 
enough for them, and that I had not made sufficient confession 
to obtain pardon, and now I must go over with them again. 
Now the most of my nights I spent in weeping ; my pillow and 
my shirt-collar were often wet with tears, and I would arise 
early to wash my face, for fear some one would discover that I 
had been crying, and ask me what was the matter." This men- 
tal agony increased fearfully, till it became a parallel almost to that 
under which the sturdy spirit of the author of the Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress suffered. Not comprehending the doctrine of ^^justification 
hy faith^'' he was engaged in a vain endeavor to wash away his 
sins by the tears of repentance alone ; but, as he attempted to 
estimate the number and enormity of his offences, an almost 
hopeless period seemed necessary for the task. " I began to 
conclude," he says, " that I should not get through my repent- 
ance until I was fifty or sixty years old." As he ruminated 
over the dreary catalogue, he sunk into utter despair. " I found," 
he says, " to my unspeakable grief and dismay, that I was 
altogether unholy in my nature ; my sins had corrupted every 
part, so that there was nothing in me that was good ; I was 
a complete sink of sin and iniquity. I looked to see if there 
was no way to escape, — if God could not be just and have mercy 
on me : but no, — my sins were of that nature that they had made 



70 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

my nature sinful. I cried out, when alone, ' O, wretch that I am ! 
undone forever ! all my hopes of obtaining mercy and getting 
to heaven at last are gone, and gone forever ! and it is all just 
and right with God.' Still, it is a little mercy to me that I am 
not killed and damned outright; I may live here a while, but 
then, at last, I must be damned ! and to pray for myself will do 
no good ; there is no mercy for me ; I can do nothing that will 
make amends for my sins ; they are past, and cannot be recalled. 
0, wretch that I am ! I have undone myself, and am undone for- 
ever. Well, what shall I do now ? To pray for mercy for my- 
self, is all in vain ; though I feel no guilt for what I have done 
in praying and confessing my sins for some weeks past, yet to 
continue in this, now I see my end, will be a vain employment ; 
it was just and right that I should pray and repent, that I might 
see my end. But now, what shall I do ? To sin is the worst of 
all ; I have done too much of that already ; ah ! that has been 
my undoing. I could say, 

Let me to some wild desert go, 

And find a peaceful home ; 
Where storms of malice never blow, 

Temptations never come. 

But that would be too good a place for me ; I deserved to be 
damned ; but this I could not pray for." 

Such was in those days the experience of many an anxious 
mind, misguided by a theology the metaphysics of which ob- 
scure the clearest and most gracious light of the Divine 
promises. Such despondence must soon terminate in insanity, 
or a favorable reaction. Happily for young Hibbard, the latter 
was the case with him. On a Sabbath day, the quiet beauties 
of which looked more " dismal than a shroud," he read in his 
Bible of " the sufferings of Christ, and had an impression to go 
into secret and pray." His anguish followed him to his closet; 
but the impressions of the truths he had been reading were 
vivid. They embodied themselves, as in a vision, to his troubled 
mind ; and he saw, as it were, " Jesus Christ at the right hand of 
God," looking down upon him with compassion. His despair 
gave way to faith ; " and now," he writes, " I could see the 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 71 

justice of God in showing mercy to me for the sake of his Son 
Jesus Christ ; and not only to me, but to all that would come 
to him, forsaking their sins, and believing that his death and 
suffering were the only satisfactory sacrifice for sin. I felt a 
sudden sense of the impropriety of my offer to be damned for 
the good of others, though I had no condemnation for it ; but 
the love of God in Christ, and of Christ in God, so completely 
overcame me, that I was all in tears, crying Glory ! glory ! glory ! 
Beholding the glory of God by faith, was a rapturous sight ! 
But soon it was suggested that I must open my eyes on crea- 
tion ; and feeling an ardent desire for company to encourage 
me in this worship of God, it appeared that, on opening my 
eyes, I should see some. I opened my eyes, therefore, while 
still on my knees ; and behold ! all nature was praising God. 
The sun and firmament, the trees, birds and beasts, all appeared 
stamped with the glory of God. I leaped from my kneeling 
posture, clapped my hands, and cried Glory ! glory ! glory ! 
heaven and earth is full of thy glory ! Then I sung, 

Command his praise abroad. 

And hymns of glory sing ; 
Jehovah is the Sovereign Lord, 

The universal King. 

" I understood now what I had read of the children singing 
hosannah to the Son of David, blessed is the King that 
cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the highest ! 
After I had sung this verse two or three times over, I began 
another, putting my hands together, and saying. Now, O Lord, 
accept what I will sing to thee ! 

Might I enjoy the meanest place 
Within thy house, oh God of grace ! 
No tents of ease nor thrones of power 
Shall tempt my feet to leave thy door. 

This verse I sung as my covenant with the Lord. I felt all 
submission, and all joy. I knew my sins were all forgiven me, 
and, if faithful, I should reign with God in glory." 



72 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Such was Hibbard's experience at twelve years of age, and 
such is but a specimen of the ordinary experience of the early 
Methodists,, and, indeed, of most earnest minds. It is char- 
acterized by much ardent feeling, and distorted and often 
despondent views of the Divine method of human recovery, but 
also by profound scrupulousness, conscientious estimates of sin, 
and, at last, by transforming faith in Christ. 

This happy state of mind continued till it was interrupted by 
the dogma of pre-reprobation, which was suggested to his medi- 
tations by the speculations of his neighbors ; for it was then 
tenaciously held as an essential doctrine of the popular faith. 
From this terrible fallacy he at last recovered, but not till he 
had passed through sore mental conflicts, and received, as he 
supposed, special illuminations of the spirit on the subject. He 
at this time anticipated vividly the doctrines of Methodism, and 
waited prayerfully till their promulgation should reach his 
neighborhood. Several years, however, elapsed, before a Meth- 
odist Itinerant appeared there ; and during this interval, he had 
been induced, by the example of Christians around him, and the 
opinions of the pastor of the village where he now resided, — 
who approved of dancing, — to attend balls, and to plunge into 
all the youthful gayeties of the vicinity. He thus lost the 
devout and peaceful frame of mind which he had reached 
through such an ordeal of mental suffering. 

He continued in this backslidden state for some time, when, 
at last, a Methodist evangelist appeared in the village. His 
mind was reawakened by the new preaching; and, passing 
through another inward conflict, similar to that alveadj de- 
scribed, he emerged into a still clearer light, and settled habits 
of piety. He embraced heartily the doctrines of the new sect, 
though, as he had removed to Norway, Connecticut, and there 
were no Methodists within twenty miles of him, he did not yet 
join the communion. While waiting their arrival in the place 
of his new residence, he felt impressed with the anticipation that 
it might be his duty to join their humble ministry, and preach 
the great truths which sustained his own soul to his country- 
men. He resolved to begin by " exhorting ; " and he records 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 73 

his first effort of the kind. It was a humble one, but charac- 
teristic and successful : — 

" My first public exercises in the worship of God com- 
menced while in Norway, immediately after my mind was fully 
satisfied that the Methodists were the people I should live to 
see. I determined to exhort and pray with all I could, so far as it 
appeared to me to be for the glory of God and the good of souls. 
One day I met with Jonathan Miller, in a wood ; I asked him 
why he did not pray to God, and get his soul converted. He 
said the prayers of the wicked were an abomination to the Lord. 
I said, Yes; because they pray the Lord to depart from them, for 
they desire not the knowledge of his ways : and when invited 
to come to the Lord, they pray to be excused, because they have 
bought a farm or married a wife. These prayers are an abom- 
ination to the Lord ; but the prayer of a poor penitent sinner 
is, ' God be merciful to me a sinner ! ' and this prayer is not an 
abomination. I then asked him if he would kneel down with me, 
and I would pray for him. He did so ; and we both arose all 
bathed in tears. From this time he began to cry unto the 
Lord ; and in about three weeks his burden of guilt was removed, 
and he began to praise the Lord." 

He proceeded further, and held occasional social services in 
the houses of his neighbors : after two or three of these meet- 
ings, he found that many persons were awakened,, and thirteen 
professed to be converted. 

Removing from Norway to Hinsdale, he had more access to 
the Methodists, and now cast in his lot with them. Providential 
encouragements to devote himself more entirely to religious 
labors occurred : his wife, who had disliked somewhat his sturdy 
religious seriousness, became converted ; he was induced, by 
peculiar circumstances, to discourse for the first time from a text 
at a tavern, and found afterwards that an old man was converted 
under the sermon, who, in a few months, died in hope; his 
step-mother was led by his guidance into the way of life. — " She 
never had a witness of her acceptance with God, but now stated 
to me her distress of mind. And we sat up all night, to weep 
and talk and pray together : and it pleased God to make her 



74 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

strong in faith and joyful in hope. It was about two o'clock in 
the night when the Lord made her soul to rejoice in God her 
Saviour. Then we were so happy, we wanted no sleep, but only 
to rejoice in the Lord. Thus we spent all the night. Glory 
to God ! this labor was sweet to my soul." He now labored 
more abundantly, and resolved to enter the Itinerant ministry ; 
but he desponded under the consciousness of his defects. " Now 
my way was open ; but my weakness almost discouraged me, at 
times : for I had not then heard the good effect my weak ser- 
mons had, so that I began to grow gloomy and discouraged, 
until I attended the Quarterly Meeting in Pittsfield. At the 
prayer-meeting in the evening, it was proposed to have a local 
preacher deliver us a sermon. He was a stranger to me ; and 
as he appeared to be a solemn, gracious, good man, I was much 
pleased with the hope of a good time : but when he commenced 
his discourse, I perceived he was a weak brother. And as 
he progressed, I was confirmed that he was very weak ; and 
before he was done, I concluded that he was weaker than I was ; 
and surely, I thought, if I were as weak as he was, I would never 
attempt to preach again. Well, our meeting closed, and I went 
to my lodgings with a sad heart, to think no good was done that 
night. But next morning, to my surprise, I heard that five persons 
who heard our weak brother the night before were converted. 
I said nothing : but hid my face in my hands, and thought, truly 
these are thy marvellous works, oh Lord ! Thou dost make use 
of things which are not to bring to nought things that are, and 
to confound the mighty ! Well, I must take courage : and if I 
cannot shine in gifts, let me shine in humility, and adorn my- 
self in a meek and quiet frame of mind, which is an ornament, 
in the sight of God, of great price." 

We have been the more minute in these quotations, because 
they present an interesting illustration of the power and work- 
ing of the religious sentiment, under Divine influence, in a 
robust but untutored mind. This process of spiritual experi- 
ence resulted in the development of a beautiful moral character, 
full of religious sympathy, of aflfectionateness, of devout sim- 
plicity and sanctified zeal, — a zeal that labored mightily, and 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 75 

endured most formidable hardships throughout a ministerial 
career of almost half a century. 

In 1797 he was directed by the Presiding Elder to labor on 
Pittsfield circuit, Mass., which he travelled till the spring of 
1798. He was then transferred to Granville circuit, Mass., until 
the Granville Conference of 1798, when he joined the regular 
Itinerant ministry, and was appointed to Duchess circuit. New 
York. While on the Pittsfield and Granville circuits, his labors 
were remarkably successful ; more than one hundred persons 
were awakened ; not a little persecution beset his course, but he 
became confirmed in his devotion to the work of the ministry. 
In 1799 he was sent to Cambridge circuit, which was chiefly in 
New York, but comprehended also several Vermont towns. He 
began now to experience some of the privations of our early 
Itinerancy. He had to remove his family, including three chil- 
dren, one hundred and fifty miles, among entire strangers, and 
without money to support them. Those were the days of the 
poverty of the church ; during the preceding nine months he 
had received but eighty-four dollars, and for twenty months his 
salary had been one hundred and thirty-three dollars. Nearly 
all his own property had been expended. The exercises of his 
humble and devoted mind, under these accumulating trials, and 
recorded in his own simple language, afford an interesting 
example of his character. 

" I looked at my call to this work to be of God. And I said 
in my heart, and to my dear wife, to God I will look for support. 
My wife encouraged me to suffer with patience. She often 
said, ' If we can do our duty to God here, and be a means of 
saving some souls, and get to heaven at last, all our sufferings 
will work together for our good.' Ah ! thought I, you are a dear 
soul ; what husband would not want to live at home, and enjoy 
the society of such a wife ! But the Lord calls me to leave wife 
and children, — and for his sake I give all up." 

He passed over his circuit, preaching daily, witnessing the 
conversion of souls, and seeking a home for his family; but 
finding none for many weeks, he writes : 

" Well, thought I, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the 



76 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

air have nests ; but I have not even a log-house. I am now 
tasting of my Master's fare. He suffered this for the good of 
souls ; and oh, what an honor, that I may suffer a little with my 
Master ! So I went on cheerful, trusting in the Lord. We had 
refreshing seasons ; many were awakened, and, I trust, converted. 
Our circuit, at that time, was five hundred miles around it ; and 
for me to preach, as I did, sixty-three sermons in four weeks, and 
travel five hundred miles, was too hard. But I cried unto the 
Lord, and he heard me ; for as my day was, so was my strength." 

Such were the trials of our primitive preachers, — trials which 
either drove them from the field, or converted them into heroes ; 
their successors may well blush to repine at their more fortunate 
lot. About three hundred persons were converted during his 
travels on Cambridge circuit. The indomitable Henry Ryan 
shared its labors, and they " pushed the battle to the gates.'* 
Violent persecutions opposed them. Hibbard writes, 

" Brother Ryan was in good health and high spirits, for this 
great work. The persecution in Thurman's Patent, where we 
had lived, was truly grievous. Many young people, that experi- 
enced religion, were turned out of doors by their parents. Some 
of them were whipped cruelly; two young women were so 
whipped by their father, that the blood run down from their 
backs to their feet, and he then turned them out of doors, and 
they walked fifteen miles to a Methodist society. When they 
recovered of their wounds, some of our sisters informed me that 
they had many scars, some five inches long. Their two young 
brothers — one fourteen, and the other twelve years old — had 
both experienced religion, through the instrumentality of the 
Methodists, and suffered in like manner. 

" It astonished me that a father of ten children, eight of whom 
had experienced religion, should drive six from his house, and 
whip these two boys, for no other crime, in reality, than because 
they worshipped God with the Methodists." 

These persecuted children agreed to visit and pray with their 
enraged parent together, at a given time. 

"With hearts all engaged in prayer for their father, they 
entered his house, and, in the most affectionate manner, made 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 77 

known to him their tender regard for his precious soul. The 
power of God rested on them, insomuch that the old man was 
not able to answer them. He throwed himself upon the bed, 
and made a howling noise, while they prayed. The poor old 
man could not arise from it. Something rendered him helpless, 
insomuch that he was not able to whip his boys any more for 
worshipping God. He lived in this helpless state eight years 
afterwards. From this time, the persecution began to cease in 
this part of the circuit." 

At the New York Conference of 1800, Mr. Hibbard was 
appointed to Granville circuit, Mass. His subsequent circuits 
were, 1801, Long Island; 1802, Duchess and Columbia, N. 
Y. ; 1803-4, Duchess ; 1805-6, Croton, N. Y., with a congenial 
colleague, the quaint John Finnegan ; 1807-8, New Rochelle, 
N. Y. In 1809 he reentered New England, and was the col- 
league of Isaac Condee, on Redding circuit. Their labors were 
unusually successful ; extensive reformations prevailed, and 
about three hundred persons were converted. In 1810 he was on 
Courtland circuit, N. Y., with Ezekiel Canfield, and 1811-12 at 
Rhinebeck, N. Y. At the Conference of 1813, he was again 
returned to New England, and appointed to Pittsfield circuit, 
Mass. He was sent to this circuit also in 1814, but with the 
understanding that he should accept a chaplaincy in the army, 
if an opportunity occurred. He did so, and as war then raged 
on our northern frontier, he was appointed to a regiment, and 
was with our troops some time in the neighborhood of Boston. 

" I believe," he writes, " I was instrumental of some good to the 
officers and soldiers. We had a very good understanding with 
each other, and contracted such an affection, that when we were 
discharged, and were taking leave of each other, our affections 
were manifested in a liberal flow of tears. And not long after 
I returned home, I had the satisfaction to hear of forty-three, 
who were in our regiment, that had experienced religion, and 
joined our society." 

In 1815 he was sent to Litchfield circuit, Connecticut, and 
labored with more than even his usual success. About six 
7# 



78 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

hundred persons, it is estimated, were converted, and as many 
joined the Congregational churches. An impulse was given to 
the cause of God in every direction, through the region of the 
circuit. In 1816 and 1817, he labored on Granville circuit; 
1818, Chatham, N. Y.; 1819-20, New York city, with Aaron 
Hunt, Samuel Merwin, Laban Clark and Tobias Spicer; 
1821, Petersburg, N. Y. ; 1822, Dalton, N. Y. Having rup- 
tured a blood-vessel v/hile preaching in New York city, his 
health had declined so far, by this time, that he was compelled 
to retire into the ranks of the "superannuated or worn-out 
preachers," where he remained three years. In 1826 he was 
appointed to Petersburg; 1827-8, Salsbury; 1829, Tyringham. 

Being still subject to inflammation of the lungs, and worn out 
with infirmities and years, he now returned to the superannuated 
ranks, where he continued till his death. He had labored in the 
church about fifty years, devotedly and successfully. He died in 
1844, in great peace, and in the forty-sixth year of his itinerant 
ministry. "When asked by a son in the Gospel how he felt in view 
of death," he replied " My mind is calm as a summer eve ; " and 
when asked by a son in the flesh if death had any terror, he 
answered " No, surely ! "^ 

Methodism, while adapted to all classes, had peculiar adapta- 
tions to the unlettered and neglected masses. Its simple doc- 
trines were intelligible to their comprehension, and its energetic 
economy reached them, in whatever recesses of obscurity. At 
the same time, its living agents were a providential counterpart 
to those adaptations. Many of its preachers seemed ta have 
been raised up exclusively for the poor and illiterate ; and the 
peculiarities which might have interfered with their usefulness 
in higher spheres secured them greater success among men of 
lowly life. Hibbard was an example of this remark. His me- 
moirs abound in striking examples of the power of his ministry ; 
even his humor, sanctified as it was, had its good agency ; the 
hardest and the rudest characters yielded to his influence. It 
would not be deemed compatible with the dignity of history to 

* Minutes^ 1845« 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 79 

narrate some of the incidents of his humble memoirs ; but, as our 
pages pretend not to that dignity, but to a simple illustration of 
the primitive character and influence of Methodism, we insert 
an instance which exemplifies this influence over an untutored 
family. It is an account of the testimony of a converted Dutch- 
man, given in a Love Feast, about the present period of our 
narrative. Hibbard writes : 

" He said, ' Mine dear brethren, I want to tell you some mine 
experience. When de Metodists first came into dese parts, I 
tot I was doing bery well ; for mine wife and I had two sons, 
Ned and Jim ; and we had a good farm dat Neddy and I could 
work bery well, so I let Jim go out to work about fourteen miles 
off from home. But de Metodists come into our parts, and 
Neddy went to dare meeting, and he got converted, and I tot we 
should all be undone ; so I told Ned he must not go to dese 
Metodist meetings, for so much praying and so much going to 
meeting would ruin us all. But Neddy said, " O fader, I must 
serve de Lord, and save my soul." But, I said, you must do de 
work too. So I gave him a hard stint on de day of dare meet- 
ing; but he work so hard dat he got his stint done, and went to 
de meeting, after all. While I set on my stoop and smoked mine 
pipe, I see him go up over de hill to de Metodist meeting, and 
I said to my wife Elizabet, We shall be undone, for our Ned will 
go to dese meetings ; and she said, " What can we do ?" Well, 
I said, den I will stint him harder; and so I did several times, 
when de meeting come. But Neddy worked hard, and some- 
times he got some boys to help him, so dat he would go off to de 
meeting while I set on mine stoop and smoked mine pipe. I 
could see Ned go over de hill. I said, one day, mine Got ! 
what can I do ? — dis boy will go to dese meetings, after all I can 
do. So when Ned come home, I said, Ned, you must leave off 
going to dese meetings, or I will send for Jim to come home, and 
turn you away. But Neddy said, " fader, I must serve de 
Lord, and save my soul." Well, den, I will send for Jim : so I 
sent for Jim ; and when he come home, den I heard he had been 
to de Metodist meeting, where he had lived, and he was con- 
verted too. And Ned and Jim both said, " O fader, we must 



80 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM, 

serv^e de Lord, and save our souls." But I said to mine wife, 
Dese Metodists must be wrong ; da will undo us all, for da have 
got Ned and Jim both ; I wish you would go to dare meeting, 
and you can see what is wrong ; but Ned and Jim can't see it. 
So de next meeting-day de old woman went wid Ned and Jim. 
But I set on mine stoop and smoked mine pipe. But I said to 
mineself, I guess dese Metodists have got dare match, to get 
de old woman, and she will see what 's wrong. So I smoked 
mine pipe, and lookt to see dem come back. By and by I see 
dem coming ; and v/hen da come near, I see de tears run down 
mine wife's face. Den I said, O mine Got ! da have got de old 
woman too. I tot I am undone, for da have got Ned and Jim, 
and de old woman ; and when da come on de stoop, mine wife 
said, " O we must not speak against dis people, for da are de 
people of Got." But I said noting, for I had not been to any of 
de meetings, so I was in great trouble. But in a few days after, 
I heard dat dere was a Presbyterian missionary going to preach 
a little ways off; so I tot I would go, for I tot it would not hurt 
anybody to go to his meeting; and I went wid Ned and Jim, 
and mine wife, and he preacht; but dere was noting done till 
after de meeting was over, and den dare was two young men in 
de toder room dat sung and prayed so good as anybody ; and da 
prayed for dar old fader too. And many cried, and I tot da 
prayed bery well. After dis I was going out of de door to go 

home, and a woman said to me " Mr. , you must be a 

happy man, to have two such young men as dem dat prayed." 
I said, Was dat Ned and Jim? She said, " Yes." O, I felt so 
mad to tink da had prayed for me, and exposed me before all de 
people ! But I said noting, but went home ; and I went right to 
bed. But now mine mind was more troubled dan ever before, 
for 1 began to tink how wicked I was to stint poor Neddy so 
hard, and try to hinder him from saving his soul ; but I said 
noting, and mine wife said noting ; so I tried to go to sleep ; but 
as soon as I shut mine eyes I could see Neddy going over de hill 
to go to his meeting, after he had done his hard stint, so tired 
and weary. Den I felt worse and worse ; and by and by I 
groaned out, and mine wife axt me what 's de matter. I said, I 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 81 

believe I am dying. She said, " Shall 1 call up Ned and Jim ?" 
I said, Yes. And Jim come to de bed, and said, " fader, what 
is de matter?" I said, I believe I am dying. And he said, 
" Fader, shall I pray for you ? " I said, yes, and Neddy too. 
And glory be to Got ! I believe he heard prayer ; for tough I felt 
my sins like a mountain load to sink me down to hell, I cried, 

Got ! have mercy on me, a poor sinner ! and by and by I feel 
someting run all over me, and split mine heart all to pieces ; and 

1 felt so humble and so loving, dat I rejoice and praise Got; and 
now I am resolved to serve Got w^it Ned and Jim, and mine wife, 
and dese Metodists.'" 

Hibbard was a very genial mind, humorous, amiable, though 
not learned, yet abounding in intelligence, fond of anecdote, and 
exceedingly happy in telling one ; surprisingly apt in laconic 
remarks, richly endowed with the spirit of piety, ever ready for 
religious conversation, a thorough lover of his country, and 
staunchly republican in his politics ; a tireless laborer in the pul- 
pit, and one of the most useful men in our early annals. His 
love and devotion to the church were enthusiastic ; he died 
soon after its division by the separation of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church South, and it is said that that event broke his 
spirit and hastened his death. 

Another veteran name on the New England list, of the pres- 
ent year, is that of Daniel Fiddler. He was born in New 
Jersey, and received the grace of God in his sixteenth year. 
His early religious experience seems to have been very definite 
and profound, and from the time of his conversion till his death 
he lost not the evidence of his acceptance with God. In 1789, 
when not seventeen years of age, he joined the Itinerant min- 
istry. His appointment for that year does not appear in the 
Minutes. During the next four years, he travelled circuits 
which extended through the western sections of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, into Ohio, a region which then lay on the western 
frontier of the nation. In 1794, he passed, by one of those 
distant transitions which were common in that day, to Nova 
Scotia. Here he continued to travel and labor, following in the 
footsteps of Garrettson, and enduring the privations and rigorous 



82 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

climate of that but partially settled country, until the present 
year, when, on his way back to the Middle States, he paused 
to see the brethren at the Lynn Conference. There he met 
several fellow-laborers from his own section of the country, — 
Wells, Sargent, Lee, Pickering-, Taylor, &c., — and cast in his lot 
with them for a season. His hardships in the Provinces had 
fitted him for the scarcely less formidable difficulties of the 
New England field. He was appointed to Sandwich, Mass. In 
the year ISOl, he travelled with John Finnegan on the Warren, 
Greenwich and Rhode Island circuit, which comprehended all 
the Methodist appointments in that state. In 1802, he resumed 
his route southward, and labored on Hartford circuit, Md. His 
subsequent appointments were in the Baltimore, New Jersey, and 
Philadelphia Conferences. He continued thus to travel to and 
fro, proclaiming the Gospel of the grace of God, down to the 
year 1830, when he entered the supernumerary ranks, after 
more than forty years' effective service, during which he endured 
the hardest trials of the Itinerancy, among the settlements of 
both the western and the north-eastern frontiers of the country. 
Notwithstanding his age and infirmities, the evangelic fire still 
burned in his bosom ; and he continued to preach and labor, with 
increased acceptance, it is said, till within a few months of his 
death. He was a patriarch among his brethren of the New 
Jersey Conference, who thus speak of his end : — 

" After having served the church, as a faithful and accredited 
minister, for more than half a century, he preached his last 
sermon Sabbath evening, January 30th, 1842, from Exod. 32 : 
18 : — 'And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.' While 
the venerable man of God was elucidating this impressive text 
of Scripture, and especially while he contemplated the manifested 
and unveiled glory of God, which the faithful finally shall enjoy, 

' When the voyage of life 's at an end, 
The mortal affliction is past,' 

his soul seemed to kindle into rapture, as he realized the period 
of his departure at hand. About this time his health began 
more rapidly to decline, and his mind, sympathizing consider- 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF lSOO-1. . S3 

ably with his failing tenement of clay, was bewildered, which 
made it difficult for him to fix his thoughts for any length 
of time on temporal subjects ; but on the subject of religion he 
was clear, calm and dispassionate, up to the latest hour of his 
life. 

" The last time he met with the people of God on earth for 
public worship, was about four weeks previous to his death, on 
a Quarterly Meeting occasion. It was peculiarly affecting to see 
him as he knelt, with solemn reverence, at the table of the Lord, 
and received in his trembling hand the affecting emblems of the 
broken body and shed blood of his Divine Redeemer. Indeed, he 
appeared to engage in all the religious exercises of that blessed 
Sabbath morning with more than ordinary interest and spiritual 
fervor. Many of the members of the church in Pemberton, 
N. J., will long remember the deep-toned feelings with which 
he spoke in the Love Feast of mercies past and present, and of 
his brightening prospect of a certain and glorious immortality. 
From this time he gradually failed, until the morning of the 
27th of August, 1842, when he fell asleep in Jesus," * 

Preeminent on the ministerial roll of this year, for both vir- 
tues and labors, is the name of Freeborn Garrettson. His 
prior travels in New England were but casual, and have been 
noticed in our preceding volume. His services the present 
year, as Presiding Elder, on a district one-third of the appoint- 
ments of which lay within New England, bring him more fully 
within the range of our narrative. He was born in Maryland, 
in 1752. The influence of a devout mother gave his mind, as 
usual, an early religious bias; and when but twelve years of 
age, he was the subject of deep religious impressions. 

Subsequently the Methodists, then a recent and much con- 
temned people, came into the neighborhood of his residence. 
He saw Mr. Strawbridge, the founder of the denomination 
in Maryland, and heard other preachers with much interest, 
especially Bishop Asbury and George Shadford. His mind 
passed through a series of painful exercises, not unlike those 
which we have narrated respecting Hibbard. The records of 

* Minutes, 1842-3. 



84 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

religious experience, not only under the influence of Methodism, 
but of all genuine forms of Christianity, present a striking sim- 
ilarity in this respect, and suggest considerations of no little 
interest to the psychologist, as well as the theologian. The 
following is Garrettson's own account of his conversion: — 

"In this state I continued till June, 1775. That blessed morn- 
ing I shall never forget ! In the night I went to bed as usual, 
and slept till daybreak: just as I awoke, I was alarmed by an 
awful voice, — 'Awake, sinner, for you are not prepared to die ! ' 
This was as strongly impressed on my mind as if it had been a 
human voice as loud as thunder, I was instantly smitten with 
conviction in a manner I had not been before. I started from my 
pillow, and cried out, Lord, have mercy on my soul ! I passed 
the morning in solitude; and in the afternoon went out and heard 
a Methodist sermon. In sorrow I went, and in sorrow returned; 
and in sorrow the night passed away. On the Tuesday follow- 
ing, on my way home, being much distressed, I alighted from my 
horse in a lonely wood, and bowed my knees before the Lord : I 
sensibly felt two spirits striving with me. The good Spirit set 
forth to my inmost mind the beauties of religion; and I seemed 
almost ready to lay hold on my Saviour. Then would the enemy 
rise up on the other hand, and dress religion in as odious a garb 
as possible. My tender feelings abated, and my tears w^ere.gone ; 
my heart was hard, but I continued on my knees in a kind of 
meditation ; and at length addressed my Maker thus : Lord, spare 
me one year more, and by that time I can put my worldly affairs 
in such a train that 1 can serve thee. It seemed as if I felt the 
two spirits with me. The answer was, ' Now is the accepted 
time.' I then pleaded for six months, but was denied : one 
month, — no. I then asked for one week : the answer was, ' This 
is the time.' I mounted my horse with a hard, unbelieving heart, 
unwilling to submit to Jesus. O what a good God had I to deal 
with ! I might in justice have been sent to hell. I had not rode 
a quarter of a mile, before the Lord met me powerfully with 
these words, ' These three years have I come seeking fruit on this 
fig-tree ; and find none.' And then the following words were 
added, ' I have come once more to offer you life and salvation, 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 85 

and it is the last time : choose or refuse.' I was instantly sur- 
rounded with a Divine power : heaven and hell were disclosed to 
my view, and life and death were set before me. I knew the 
very instant when I submitted to the Lord, and was willing 
that Christ should reign over me. I threw the reins of my bri- 
dle on my horse's neck, and putting my hands together, cried 
out. Lord, I submit ! I was less than nothing in my own sight. 
The enmity of my heart was slain ; the plan of salvation was 
open to me ; I saw a beauty in the perfections of the Deity, and 
felt that power of faith and love that I had been a stranger to 
before." 

His subsequent conduct showed the genuineness of his 
experience, and the scrupulousness of his renewed conscience. 
The property of his deceased father had devolved to him, includ- 
ing a number of slaves. Some time after the remarkable change 
we have recorded, his mind was deeply dejected, — he "was 
encompassed with darkness and the most severe distress." " I 
continued reading the Bible," he writes, " till eight; and then, 
under a sense of duty, called the family together for prayer. As 
I stood with a book in my hand, in the act of giving out a hymn, 
this thought powerfully struck my mind, ' It is not right for you 
to keep your fellow-creatures in bondage ; you must let the 
oppressed go free.' I knew it to be that same blessed voice 
which had spoken to me before. Till then I had never suspected 
that the practice of slave-keeping was wrong ; I had not read a 
book on the subject, nor been told so by any. I paused a minute, 
and then replied, ' Lord, the oppressed shall go free.' And I 
was as clear of them in my mind as if I had never owned one. 
I told them they did not belong to me, and that I did not desire 
their services without making them a compensation : I was now 
at liberty to proceed in worship. After singing, I kneeled to 
pray. Had I the tongue of an angel, I could not fully describe 
what I felt : all my dejection, and that melancholy gloom which 
preyed upon me, vanished in a moment, and a Divine sweetness 
ran through my whole frame." 

Thus did his purified mind perceive the evil of slavery, not by 
a speculative process, but by that more certain spiritual intuition, 
8 



86 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

or instinct, if we may so call it, which religion imparts to the 
rectiSed heart. " I bless the Lord," he writes, " for leading me 
safely through such fiery trials ! My late affliction of mind was 
for my good. It was God, not man, that taught me the impro- 
priety of holding slaves, -and I shall never be able to praise him 
enough for it. My very heart has bled, since that, for slave- 
holders, especially those who make a profession of religion ; for 
I believe it to be a crying sin." 

In the course of some months he began to address assemblies 
in neighboring villages; and at last, after severe mental conflicts, 
which arose from attempts to evade his duty, he obeyed the call 
of his ministerial brethren, and, furnishing himself with the 
usual Itinerant equipage of the day, — horse and saddle-bags, — 
went forth from a home which was abundant in resources and 
comforts, to pursue through his long life the pilgrim career of the 
Methodist travelling preacher. 

He joined the Conference of 1775. The ensuing nine years 
he spent in almost incredible travels and sufferings, in Mary- 
land, Virginia, both Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Delaware and 
New Jersey. Such are the number and variety of marvel- 
lous incidents and adventures which marked his history during 
these few years, that we should be at a loss to know how to 
select from them, for our present sketch, were they relevant to 
it ; but as they did not occur within the geographical scope of 
our narrative, we but refer to them. His labors were continual, 
with scarcely a day's intermission. Plis ministrations were 
often in such power as to prostrate to the earth large portions of 
his congregations. He was frequently mobbed, and struck down 
by the fists or clubs of enraged persecutors. He suffered impris- 
onment, and escaped several times plots against his life, attempted 
by poison or fire-arms. These hostilities were not occasioned 
by any severities of disposition or any indiscretions on his part, 
but by the extraordinary zeal and success of his labors among a 
community which had grown up with " the form of godliness, 
but denying the power." No man could be more placable or 
conciliatory than Garrettson. Overflowing with the charity and 
spiritual comfort of the Gospel, he was circled about, as it were, 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 87 

with a halo of grace and benignity. His enemies, on fuller 
acquaintance with him, often relented under the charm of his 
cordial and cheerful spirit, and some of them became eminent 
adherents of the cause they had persecuted. 

We cannot better illustrate his happy religious temper than oy 
referring to an instance of the frequent and severe persecutions 
which attended him at this period. Immediately after escaping 
an attempt on his life, he was sent by a magistrate to prison. 
Here, with the floor for his bed, his saddle-bags for his pillow, 
and a cold east wind blowing through two open windows upon 
him, he lay down at night with " great consolation in the Lord," 
exclaiming, " Thy will be done." During his confinement he 
was " much drawn out in prayer, reading, writing and medita- 
tion." Asbury was himself in concealment at the house of a 
friend, some miles distant, and the imprisoned evangelist believed 
himself "strengthened and consoled by the prayers of his good 
friend," the apostolic bishop. The latter had sent him the 
noble letters of Rutherford, v?-ith which he beguiled the tedious 
days ; and he was " blessed by the soul-comforting and strength- 
ening letters which he received from pious friends." " The 
Lord," he says, " was remarkably good to me, so that I experi- 
enced a prison to be like a paradise ; and I had a heart to pray 
for my worst enemies. My soul was so exceedingly happy, I 
scarcely knew how my days and nights passed away. The Bible 
was never sweeter to me. I never had "a greater love to God's 
dear children. I never saw myself more unworthy. I never 
saw a greater beauty in the cross of Christ; for I thought I 
could, if required, go cheerfully to the stake in so good a cause. 
I was not at all surprised with the cheerfulness of the ancient 
martyrs, who were able in the flames to clap their glad hands. 
Sweet moments I had with my dear friends who came to the 
prison window. Many, both acquaintances and strangers, came 
to visit me from far and near, and I really believe I never was 
the means of doing more good for the time ; for the country 
seemed to be much alarmed, and the Methodists among whom I 
had labored, to whom I had written many epistles, were much 
stirred up to pray for me." 



00 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

On being released, he resumed immediately his indefatigable 
labors, and his persecutors were among the earliest to yield to 
the influence of the truth. " how wonderfully," he writes, 
" did the people of Dorchester rage ! but the word of the Lord 
spread through all that country, and hundreds, both white and 
black, have experienced the love of Jesus. Since that time I 
have preached to more than three thousand people in one con- 
gregation, not far from the place where I was imprisoned ; and 
many of my worst enemies have bowed to the sceptre of our 
sovereign Lord." 

Mr. Garrettson's ministerial life afforded him ample opportuni- 
ties of "rejoicing in tribulation." After travelling but nine 
years, he says, in a letter to Wesley, " My lot has mostly been 
cast in new places, to form circuits, which much exposed me to 
persecution. Once I was imprisoned ; twice beaten ; left on the 
highway speechless and senseless (I must have gone into a 
world of spirits, had not God in mercy sent a good Samaritan, 
that bled, and took me to a friend's house) ; once shot at; guns 
and pistols presented at my breast; once delivered from an 
armed mob, in the dead time of night, on the highway, by a 
surprising flash of lightning; surrounded frequently by mobs; 
stoned frequently : I have had to escape for my life at dead time 
of night. O ! shall I ever forget the Divine hand which has 
supported me^" 

In 1784 Mr. Garrettson was present at the celebrated Christ- 
mas Conference, at which the M. E. church was organized ; he 
had been an important agent in bringing about that important 
measure, and was one of the eleven who were ordained Elders, 
during the session. Hitherto the sacraments had not been 
administered in our churches. A vague relation was maintained 
by them to the Protestant Episcopal church, similar to that 
which existed between the Wesleyans and the English estab- 
lishment. From the " Christmas Conference " dates our inde- 
pendent denominational history. Asbury was ordained a Super- 
intendent or Bishop, and Presbyters were consecrated for the 
administration of the sacraments throughout the connection. 
These Elders being subsequently assigned to regular districts, 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 89 

and endowed with additional administrative powers, were called 
Presiding Elders; and thence has descended to us an office 
which, though provided originally to meet a want that arose 
from the paucity of competent men to administer the sacraments, 
has become a permanent and universal feature in oiir ecclesias- 
tical economy. 

It was at the Christmas Conference that Garrettson volun- 
teered his services as a missionary to Nova Scotia. A considera- 
ble number of Methodists were scattered through that province, — 
some from England, and some from the States, who had retired 
thither on the breaking out of the war of the Revolution ; but, being 
destitute of regular pastors, they were as sheep without a shep- 
herd. Garrettson, attended by a single ministerial companion, 
arrived, about the beginning of March, at Halifax, and entered 
immediately upon his labors, with his usual energy. He founded 
the Methodist society of that town. It originally consisted of 
but seven or eight members. He continued in Nova Scotia more 
than two years, laboring with unceasing diligence, and v/ith 
much success ; for, on his return to the States, there were about 
six hundred members in society, as the fruits of his ministry. In 
his semi-centenary sermon, delivered before the New York 
Conference, he remarked of his labors in this Province, — "I 
traversed the mountains and valleys, frequently on foot, with 
my knapsack on my back, guided by Indian paths in the wil- 
derness, when it was not expedient to take a horse ; and I 
had often to wade through morasses, half-leg-deep in mud and 
water ; frequently satisfying my hunger with a piece of bread 
and pork from my knapsack, quenching my thirst from a brook, 
and resting my weary limbs on the leaves of the trees. Thanks 
be to God ! he compensated me for all my toil ; for many precious 
souls were awakened and converted to God." 

He left Nova Scotia for Boston, April 10, 1787, and found in 
the New England metropolis three Methodists, remnants of a 
society formed there seventeen years before, by Mr. Boardman, 
one of Wesley's original missionaries to America, who had made 
a brief visit to that city. Garrettson, being an Arminian, was 
too much of a heretic to find admission to the city pulpits ; but 



90 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

he preached several sermons in private houses, and passed on to 
Providence and Nev^^port, R. I., where he met a more cordial recep- 
tion, and preached with good acceptance. He continued his route 
to the Baltimore Conference, and he was received with hearty- 
greetings by his old fellow-laborers of the Middle States. It was 
anticipated that he would be appointed, at this session, Super- 
intendent of the Methodist Church in the North American 
British Possessions. Wesley himself, who had corresponded 
with him while he was in Nova Scotia, had selected him for 
the office, and Dr. Coke brought intelligence of the design from 
England, and submitted the proposition to the Conference. The 
Conference favored at first, but did not finally make the appoint- 
ment. Had it been effected, it is probable it would have assumed 
an Episcopal character, after the example of the American Super- 
intendency; and its influence on the condition of Methodism in 
the Provinces would doubtless have been important. The value 
of an Episcopal Superintendency, in directing and energizing an 
extensive Itinerant system of evangelical labor, is manifest in 
the contrast between the growth of Methodism in the United 
States, on the one hand, and the British Possessions, on the 
other. 

He was appointed, in 1787, Presiding Elder in the Baltimore 
Conference, and labored among the localities of his early min- 
istry. In 1788, he passed, by the advice of Asbury, to the 
north, with the intention of entering New England as the 
pioneer of Methodism in the Eastern States. 

The illness of the preacher stationed in New York city 
detained him there till the ensuing Conference, and thus pre- 
vented him from anticipating, by a single year, the mission of 
Jesse Lee. At the conference of 1789 he was appointed Pre- 
siding Elder of the New York district. Methodism had not 
extended further north than Westchester. His district was new, 
and was, indeed, to be yet founded. He had under his control 
twelve young preachers, and designated them to circuits along 
the Hudson as far northward as Lake Champlain ; several of 
these routes of ministerial travel bordered on New England, and 
passed through towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ver- 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 91 

mont. The new ecclesiastical field had not been surveyed, and 
presented many formidable difficulties ; he entered upon it, how- 
ever, with apostolic devotion. " I gave myself," he writes, " to 
earnest prayer for direction. I knew that the Lord was with me. 
In the night season, in a dream, it seemed as if the whole coun- 
try up the North river, as far as Lake Champlain, east and 
west, was open to my view. After the Conference adjourned, I 
requested the young men to meet me. Light seemed so reflected 
on my path that I gave them directions where to begin, and 
which way to form their circuits." 

Lee entered Connecticut this year, and Garrettson was thus 
a coadjutor with him in the introduction of Methodism into the 
Eastern States ; but not to such an extent as to impair the claim 
of the latter to the honorable distinction of being the founder of 
New England Methodism. Garrettson's district admitted of but 
occasional incursions into the east, whereas Lee entered fully 
into the new field, traversed all its states, and continued to labor 
within it, for about twelve years, till the church was permanently 
founded throughout its entire extent. Garrettson, however, con- 
tributed greatly to the early establishment of our cause along the 
western border of New England, from Long Island Sound to 
northern Vermont. The rapid travels and continual preaching 
of himself and his little band of twelve young men soon aroused 
the whole region along that border, and the vital doctrines of 
Methodism struck root in almost every town and village in 
their course. " Many houses," he writes, " and hands, and 
hearts, were opened ; and before the commencement of the 
winter, we had several large circuits formed, and the most of 
the preachers were comfortably situated ; sinners in a variety of 
places began to inquire what they should do to be saved. Satan 
and his children were much alarmed, and began on every hand 
to threaten us. Some said, * They are good men : ' others said, 
* Nay, they are deceivers of the people.' A stranger from Ver- 
mont, on his way down the country, informed the people that 
we were spread all through the country through which he came. 
This sudden spread of our preachers caused some person to say, 
' I know not from whence they all come, unless from the clouds.' 



93 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

The power of the Lord attended the word, and a great reforma- 
tion was seen among the people ; and many were enabled to 
speak freely and feelingly of what God had done for their souls. 
My custom was to go around the district every three months. 
In going once around, I usually travelled about a thousand rniles, 
and preached upward of a hundred sermons." 

Such were the primitive champions of our cause ; they 
"counted not their lives dear unto themselves, so that they 
might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they 
had received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace 
of God." 

Garrettson was a member of the council of bishops and elders 
which met this year in Baltimore. In the spring of the ensuing 
year, he made a tour through New England, the chief incidents 
of which have been narrated in our preceding volume."^ He 
preached in almost every town on his route, inspirited the 
churches, and scattered the word of life broadcast as he went 
through Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

At the New York Conference for 1791, his district was divided. 
He was appointed to that section of it which lay along the New 
England border, and his labors again contributed greatly to the 
outspread of Methodism in the Eastern States. He had been 
remarkably successful during the three years of his Presiding 
Eldership -, about 2550 members had been received into the 
church, and the original four circuits of the district had increased 
to twelve. The district itself had comprehended nearly all the 
territory now included in the New York, New York East, and 
Troy Conferences. 

In 1792 he travelled Albany district, which included portions 
of New England, and in 1793 Philadelphia district. It was in 
this year that he married Miss Catharine Livingston, of Rhine- 
beck. If ever a marriage was consecrated in heaven, this was ; 
it introduced him to a circle of domestic enjoyments and sanc- 
tities, which, though they could not divert him from his accus- 
tomed Itinerant labors, afforded to them a felicitous relief, and 
tended not a little to the elevation of his already noble character. 

* Memorials of the Introduction of Melhodisrh, chap. v. 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 93 

His subsequent appointments were, in 1797, New York district, 
which brought him again into New England; 1798, Albany- 
district ; 1799, New Jersey district ; 1800-1804, New York dis- 
trict, again ; 1804, Ehinebeck ; 1805 and 1806, New York city ; 
1807, Conference missionary; 1808, Rhinebeck; 1809 and 1810, 
Conference missionary; 1811 to 1814, New York district; 
1815, no appointment, at his own request ; 1816, Conference mis- 
sionary. At the Conference of 1817, he was returned on the 
supernumerary list, that he might be able to labor at large. In 
this relation to the Conference he continued the remainder of his 
life, extending his travels through most of New England and the 
Middle States, and scarcely abating his wonted exertions, not- 
withstanding the growing infirmities of age. 

Few men — none, perhaps, except Asbury and Lee — labored 
more indefatigably, or made greater sacrifices for our cause, than 
Freeborn Garrettson. He fought its early and formidable battles, 
from South Carolina to Nova Scotia, and never with defeat. 
His spirit glowed with an inextinguishable zeal ; and the priva- 
tions, travels and fatigues, of more than fifty years spent in the 
Itinerant ministry, only augmented his devotion to the propaga- 
tion of those great doctrines of the cross which Methodism had 
brought home to his own experience. The chief secret of his 
almost incredible labors is the fact that early in his life, while 
in North Carolina, he thoroughly consecrated himself to God, 
and received the blessing of entire sanctification. This great 
grace signalized his whole subsequent life ; it was a favorite 
theme of his ministry, and some of his dying utterances were 
testimonies of its reality and blessedness. 

Freeborn Garrettson possessed more than the usual intelligence 
of his fellow-laborers : he was a sound theologian ; his style was 
ready and glowing, his expositions remarkably perspicuous and 
apt ; his manner in the pulpit colloquial, ardent, pathetic, and 
often exultantly eloquent. In social life he was marked by a 
happy facility of manners, an unusually placable and sympathetic 
spirit, and sentiments of great liberality towards those who differed 
from him in religious opinions. 

But notwithstanding his habitual and perhaps constitutional 



94 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

liberality, his love of Methodism amounted almost to a passion. 
He believed it to be a re-development of the apostolic form of 
Christianity — a final missionary movement of the Gospel for the 
recovery of the world unto Christ ; and his devotion to its propa- 
gation corresponded with- his convictions of its importance. His 
regard for the system endeared to him its laborious agents, and 
a marked trait of his character was his " love of the brethren." 
Even his beautiful retreat at Rhinebeck seemed to him deficient 
in its requisite comforts, if there was not with him an Itinerant 
preacher to share his occasional repose amidst its shades. These 
intervals of rest were, however, usually very brief. It is to be 
hoped that there are many families as holy and as happy as that 
of the Garrettson homestead, but a more happy and more sanc- 
tified one could not be found; yet it was remarked by the friends 
of the veteran preacher that he soon became restless while enjoy- 
ing its charming seclusion. His old associate and biographer, 
Dr. Bangs, remarks, " Here is the true secret whence originated 
that restlessness of spirit whenever he had been long at home. 
He felt that the vows of his God were upon him, and that he 
must perform them. Often, when I have been favored with a 
visit to his friendly and peaceful mansion, have I witnessed, even 
in the midst of everything calculated to make life desirable, the 
anxiety of his mind to be in the field, laboring for his Lord and 
Master." 

The death of this venerable saint befitted such a life. While 
on a ministerial visit to New York, he was attacked with stran- 
guary. He endured indescribable agonies, but triumphed over 
them all, and, at last, over death itself, by the strength of his 
faith. In the midst of his extreme sufferings, he exclaimed, " I 
shall be purified as by fire; I shall be made perfect through 
sufferings. It is all right, — not a pain too much ! " Again he 
exclaimed, " I feel the perfect love of God in my soul ! " When 
a friend inquired how he was, he replied, " I feel love and good 
will to all mankind; I see a beauty in all the works of God;" 
apparently not regarding the inquiry about his health as worthy 
of reference. His last distinct words, uttered while dying, were 
a sublime triumph of the departing soul, an anticipation of the song 



FURTHER NOTICES OF THE PREACHERS OF 1800-1. 95 

of Heaven ; they were " Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty ! 
Hallelujah ! hallelujah ! " The phrase " Glory, glory ! " was whis- 
pered from his dying lips, as he clasped his hands, and raised his 
failing eyes, for the last time, towards heaven. " Just as the 
period of his departure approached, one of the preachers broke 
forth into prayer, — prayer so elevated, so holy, that it seemed 
to wrap the hearers above all sublunary consideration ; and as 
he commended the dying saint into the hands of God, he prayed 
that the mantle of the departing patriarch might rest on his 
surviving brethren. His prayer seemed answered ; — a Divine 
influence pervaded the apartment ; two of the preachers almost 
sank to the floor, under a glorious sense of His presence who 
filleth immensity."^ 

Thus died Freeborn Garrettson, Sept. 26, 1827, in the seventy- 
sixth year of his age, and the fifty-second of his Itinerant 
ministry, some sixteen of which had been spent in appointments 
that comprehended large portions of the New England States. 
He looked with much hope on the religious prospects of these 
states. "Much good," he says, "was done; and I should not 
be surprised if New England should become the richest soil in 
the Union for Methodism." t 

* Letter of Miss M. R. Garrettson to Rev. R. Reece. — Life of Garrettson. 
t Semi-centenary Sermon, p. 23. 



\ 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TRIALS AND SUCCESSES OF 1800-1. 

Privations of the Early Methodist Ministry. — Joshua Taylor. — Epaphras Kihby. — Suffer- 
ings and Triumphs in Maine. — Ebenezer Newhall. — Remarkable Reformation. — Peter 
Vannest in Vermont. — Rhode Island. — New Hampshire. — Sufferings and Successes in 
Granville Circuit. — Letters from Bostwick and Brodhead. — Numerical Results. 

Extensive reformations, and also no inconsiderable sufferings, 
attended the labors of the present year. Some of the northern 
and eastern circuits reached far into the frontier wilderness, and 
even into Canada. The winters were rigorous, and the rough 
roads and forest paths were often rendered almost impassable 
by snow; while the entertainment of the weary Itinerant, at 
night, was usually in exposed log cabins. Our ministry of that 
day was, however, composed of men who " endured as seeing 
Him who is invisible." " Long rides and bad roads," says one 
of them, who travelled in Maine, — " crossing rivers without 
ferry-boats, buffeting storms, breaking roads, sleeping in open 
cabins and log huts, coarse and scanty fare, — all seemed to call 
out the energies of both soul and body."^ Joshua Taylor 
superintended a vast district in the same state. A new and 
laborious circuit — Bethel — was added this year to the six 
which had before composed his charge ; it extended up the 
Androscoggin river as far as the remotest habitations of white 
men. The privations and sufferings of the little band of travel- 
ling evangelists in this then comparatively unsettled country were 
incredible. But trials are the discipline that makes great men ; 
and the names of most of them, Taylor, Mudge, Kibby, Webb, 
Soule, Merritt, are still notable in the church for heroic associ- 
ations. They faltered not amidst their great trials, but spread 
the truth far and wide. " In the course of this year," writes 

* MS. of Rev. Enoch Mudge. 



TRIALS AND SUCCESSES OF 1800-1. 97 

Taylor, " I witnessed some blessed revivals of religion in different 
parts of the district." ^ Kibby especially had severe trials, but 
also signal success, on Readfield circuit, which took in the furthest 
settlement on Sandy river. Except a single Saturday in each 
month, he preached daily. He threaded the forests, by the aid 
of a guide, at first, and afterwards by marks on the trees ; his 
horse was often dangerously lacerated in fording streams amidst 
the ice ; the stars shone upon his slumbers through the roofs of 
the log cabins in which he sought shelter. But the truth spread 
like a flame over his circuit ; a remarkable reformation began, 
under one of his sermons at Monmouth, and extended Into 
many other towns ; it reached Hallowell, and resulted in the 
introduction of Methodism there the present year, — not, how- 
ever, without persecutions, and even the violence of mobs. 

About this time, young Ebenezer F. Newhall, since become a 
veteran of our ministry, was teaching school in Thomaston. He 
had recently found the grace of God, and was now praying and 
exhorting, in his hours of leisure, from house to house ; and aided 
much, in this manner, the kw Itinerants who, at long intervals, 
passed through the neighborhood, proclaiming the Gospel. "I 
found," he writes, " in the place, a large unfinished meeting-house, 
but no settled minister. About three miles distant, there was 
Methodist preaching half the time, in a large hall. There I found 
a small society, and felt at home among them. Brother J. Taylor 
was the Presiding Elder, and Brothers Humphrey and Hubbard 
circuit preachers. With great delight and profit I heard the 
word from their consecrated lips. The people flocked to hear 
them, and many were converted. Pleasant and profitable were 
the seasons that 1 enjoyed in visiting from house to house, and 
recommending pure experimental religion to all. This was new 
doctrine to them ; for election and reprobation had been taught 
there most rigidly. But great joy filled my heart, whilst 1 
opened my Bible and showed them that whosoever calls upon 
God in humble prayer shall be saved : for the same God over 
all is rich in mercy unto all that call upon him; all are invited 
to look and live, and whosoever will may take of the waters of 

* Letter to the author^ 



98 . MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

life freely. Glory to God ! Amen." He relates an account 
of a remarkable religious interest which occurred among th<i Fox 
Islands, at the north of Penobscot Bay. " The facts were these : 
It was a new settlement, consisting of about thirty families. 
There was not a professor of religion among them, and the Sab- 
bath was a day for visiting, doing up chores, &c. Yet the good 
spirit had not left them, for they manifested some conviction for 
sin. They said, ere long, one to another, ' We live too much like 
heathens ; we were brought up to keep the Sabbath ; let us 
meet on the Sabbath.' So they met, and took snuff, smoked 
tobacco, and talked about their cattle, farms, &c. But the Holy 
Spirit reproved them ; and they said, ' We might as well be among 
our cattle and at work on our farms, as to meet here and think 
and talk about them as we do.' They then agreed to spend a 
portion of the time in reading the Bible and in singing. A 
few holy Sabbaths thus passed, and they felt convicted that 
taking snuff, chewing and smoking tobacco, were inconsistent 
with the worship of God ; and they mutually agreed to lay them 
aside, at least when in meeting. After this they came together 
for several Sabbaths, and sat down in silence and wept ; indeed, 
they could scarcely read or sing. On a certain day, when they 
sat weeping thus, one said, ' Neighbor, will you pray with us?' 
■ — ' No,' he replied, ' for I have no religion.' The inquiry went 
round, and a similar reply followed it. Their sighs and tears 
increased, till one kneeled down and began to cry for mercy ; 
but he was not long alone, for the power of God moved upon 
the little congregation. They prayed : — the Lord heard, and 
sent down answers of peace; their sorrows were turned into 
joys, until there was not a family on the islands that had not 
shared in the glorious work. This was the Lord's doing, and 
marvellous in our sight ! " 

The laborers in New Hampshire and Vermont suffered 
much, but not without eminent success. Peter Vannest says of 
Essex circuit, afterwards Fletcher, Vt., " We had a good time 
all around the circuit. I baptized, by sprinkling, pouring and 
immersion, about four hundred persons. My work required me 
to cross Missisque river. When winter came, I was unable to 



TRIALS AND SUCCESSES OF 1800-1. 99 

get my horse over the river, on account of the boat being sunk ; 
I therefore left him with a friend, to bring to St. Alban's, a 
distance of about seventeen miles. I got over the river myself 
in a canoe, amidst the drift-ice. I travelled about one hundred 
miles on foot, and most of the way through the woods and deep 
snow, without a track, sometimes stepping into spring-holes up 
to my knees in mud and water : the snow would wear ofT the 
mud, but not dry my feet. Some part of my way was on the 
ice, which at that season covered Missisque Bay, where I found 
the water three or four inches deep ; and being compelled to 
travel in shoes (having no boots), I had wet feet, of course. 
Thus I continued until I came to St. Alban's, where I found my 
horse, and so travelled on until the beginning of summer, when 
my horse died.'"^ He continued through similar trials till the 
next session of the Conference, to which he had to travel four 
hundred miles on horseback, but bearing with him the cheering 
tidings of wide-spread revivals, and more than one hundred and 
twenty-five additions to the societies of his charge, besides 
numerous converts who were received into other communions. 

Elijah Hedding, who was yet a stripling, labored this year 
under the direction of the Presiding Elder, with great usefulness, 
in various parts of Vermont. Joshua Hall, whose appointment 
was Rhode Island circuit, formed the first Methodist Class in 
Newport, R. L,and extending his travels to New Bedford, intro- 
duced Methodism into that city. Joseph Snellingand Solomon 
Langdon had much success on Warren circuit, R. I. It com- 
prised some twenty appointments, in several of which a profound 
religious interest prevailed. The society at Cumberland was 
formed this year by Mr. Snelling, and reformations of much 
interest took place in Easton, Bridgewater, Swanzey and Fair- 
fax. Of the latter place Snelling whites, " Many in this part of 
the Lord's vineyard have cause to remember the year 1800. It 
was like the year of Jubilee — a year of release ; and, blessed be 
God ! many went out free." t " The reformation," he remarks, 
"continued in different directions, and Zion's converts were 
multiplied." 

* Christian Advocate, &c., Sept., 1850. f Memoir, Chap. iii. 



too MEMORIALS OF METHODISM- 

In New Hampshire, Methodism spread itself out in all direc- 
tions ; the circuits were doubled in number, and the membership 
increased more than three-fold. 

Granville circuit, Mass., travelled this year by Hibbard and 
Ebenezer Washburn (the latter not yet a member of the Confer- 
ence), was the scene of great trials and great triumphs. Hib- 
bard says that when he went to the circuit his payment quar- 
terly was but $5.84, besides travelling expenses. He had, 
meanwhile, to maintain his family, which was located some fifty 
miles distant from his field of labor. He speaks of twenty-six 
sermons a month as " moderate labor," and only complains when 
he had twelve appointments a week, and " no rest week in which 
to go home and visit his family." He describes his trials in his 
own characteristic style. " Some days, when riding to my 
appointments, I was almost all the way in tears ; often inquiring 
of the Lord, in ejaculatory prayers, 'What can I do to save these 
souls from delusion ? ' Some threw stones at me, and some set 
their dogs on me as I rode along. But the Lord defended me. 
I never had a stone to hit me, nor a dog to bite me. Some 
threatened to whip me ; but I escaped all. I heard of many 
threats, but none laid hands on me. It was told me, that when 
I was riding from Springfield to Westfield, a company lay in 
wait for me in a swamp, through which I had to ride ; and they 
had said they intended to whip me ; but as I was passing a 
house, before I came to the swamp, a woman called to me and 

informed me that Brother A was sick, and had sent to her 

to desire me to call upon him. I then turned my course, and 
rode across lots to his house, and, on leaving him, I went another 
road : so I escaped the mob." 

In the town of Chester there was a remarkable reformation, 
and more than one hundred professed to experience religion ; 
" but," writes Hibbard, " the opposition we met with was very 
unpleasant, for in many places the minister, in preaching vio- 
lently against us, induced the most influential men to oppose us, 
iand support themselves. Had it not been that we had the 
Lord, and the force of truth, on our side, we should not have 
prevailed and prospered as we did. But, glory be to God ! more 



TRIALS AND SUCCESSES OF 1800-1. 101 

than three hundred professed to be converted this year, and I 
know not of one instance where the revival of religion was 
through the instrumentality of any but the Methodists. Though 
many joined the Presbyterians and Baptists, they professed 
to be awakened and converted by attending the Methodist 
meetings." 

The bishops published several letters from New England 
preachers, giving brief accounts of the revivals of this year. The 
difference between the numerical statements of these letters is 
owing to the difference of their dates. One of them is from 
Brodhead, Presiding Elder of the New London district, which 
reached almost to Canada. It is dated Sept. 19th. He says, " At 
Vershire Quarterly Meeting the Lord was present indeed ; at this 
meeting there were about fifteen hundred people. On the Sab- 
bath we had to preach in the open air : several found Jesus, and 
others, who had already believed, were overwhelmed wuth his 
power. At Wethersfield we had a good time ; the work had 
begun on that circuit ; a goodly number have joined. At Ches- 
terfield Quarterly Meeting some appeared to be awakened ; I have 
heard since that seven have been converted in that place. At 
Pomfret Quarterly Meeting the power of the Lord was felt 
indeed. New London Quarterly Meeting was still greater ; sin- 
ners were awfully alarmed. At Tolland Quarterly Meeting it 
was a great time ; the Saturday meeting lasted till three o'clock 
on Sabbath morning ; some professed to experience sanctification, 
and during the Quarterly Meeting several were awakened; 1 
believe much good was done. The preachers are all in middling 
health and good spirits, looking with pleasing expectation for 
greater and more glorious times. On every circuit there is some 
revival." "^ 

At the end of the year, Brodhead and Bostwick, the latter 
Presiding Elder in Vermont, wrote a joint letter, dated at Dart- 
mouth College, in which they say, " There is a glorious prospect 
in both districts of a plentiful harvest. In the Essex circuit, 
which extends to and includes part of the British dominions, 

* Extracts of Letters containing some Account of the Work of God since 1800. New 
York, 1805. 

9# 



10^ MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

there are more than eighty members added, and but few expelled; 
the greater part of the new members have professed, and evi- 
dence, a change wrought by grace. The Plattsburgh circuit, 
which lies on the west side of the Lake Champlain, is all on fire : 
there have been singular displays of God's converting and sanc- 
tifying power in this circuit, which is only a two weeks' circle, 
and about sixty members added. The Pittsfield circuit has felt 
a shock of the Divine power : at our last Quarterly Meeting, some, 
both of the wicked and the wise, fell to the floor. Some were 
converted, and six professed sanctification. About seventy-three 
members were added, including the Whittingham circuit, which is 
much alive ; and the work is enlarging still, and is in a flourish- 
ing way. The Granville circuit has been, and still is, favored 
with a revival in two towns, viz., Westfield and Chester; we 
believe about eighty members have been added.^ We have lost 
a few members in each circuit, but the precise number we have 
not been able to ascertain. But, upon the whole, v^^e feel as if 
Zion was gaining ground, through her Redeemer ; and, blessed 
be the Lord ! the preachers seem encouraged to pray, and believe 
the Lord will give them thousands, as seals to their ministry, this 
year yet, as he has given thena about three hundred and seventy 
already in this district. We have had a fruitful increase of 
preachers, on the district, this year, already. There is a good 
prospect in Landafl* circuit : about sixty members have been 
added there, and the work increases still. Vershire circuit has 
been blest with an extraordinary work of sanctification ; about 
fifty members added. Wethersfield circuit has been prospered 
with the addition of about forty members. The work is gradu- 
ally spreading, and the circuit enlarged from two to four weeks. 
There has been, and still is, a revival in Chesterfield circuit, par- 
ticularly in Charlton — about forty members added. There has 
been a great work in Tolland in the old town ; but it afterwards 
broke out in another part of the town, and about sixty-five mem- 
bers have been added. The New London and Pomfret circuits 
being united, we give you the account together. The work is 
promising — about forty members added. We have reason to 

*Thi8 letter covers not quite one half the time included in our account fromHibbard. 



TRIALS AND SUCCESSES OF 1800-1. 103 

believe the work of the Lord is more prosperous this year, in 
these circuits, than ever we have known it to be in New Eng- 
land. Our Quarterly Meetings, on both sides of the Connecticut 
river, have been singularly distinguished by our Lord and Mas- 
ter, and great blessings have followed them. We believe, had 
we obtained accurate accounts from the preachers, the numbers 
would have far exceeded what we have mentioned." 

Brodhead, whose noble heart flamed with the interest around 
him, wrote about the middle of the ensuing May (two months 
before the close of the ecclesiastical year), as follows : " I can 
inform you that I have been an eye, an ear, and heart-felt wit- 
ness of the work of God on Landafl*, Vershire, and Wethersfield 
circuits. Near four hundred have joined in society, the year 
past, on the three circuits ; and the work goes on still in a most 
glorious and remarkable manner. LandaflT circuit is all in a 
flame ; upwards of one hundred have been converted to God. 
Our Quarterly Meetings are generally attended with the power of 
God, like a mighty rushing wind. On Vershire circuit there is 
a good work : more than one hundred have joined society, and 
the power of the Lord is remarkably displayed ; many fall down 
overwhelmed with the power of the Lord, and great is the Holy 
One of Israel in the midst of them. Wethersfield circuit has 
been gradually gaining ground the whole year, and now, at the 
close, the times of refreshing are come from the presence of the 
Lord. I spent a few days on the circuit. We had a number of 
lively meetings, and some joined society; but nothing remarka- 
ble happened till we came to the little town of Athens. Here I 
preached on Tuesday to a large congregation in the open air ; 
they heard me with great attention. There had been no society 
formed ; it was proposed for me to preach again the next day, 
read the rules, and form a Class. We had a most melting time ; 
the power of the Lord was present to heal, and eighty-three 
came forward and joined society. Their eagerness to join 
alarmed me before they had all joined. I was afraid they had 
not considered sufficiently what they were doing. I rose up 
and poured in upon them a very warm exhortation, and told 
them we wanted none but such as were determined to save their 



104 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

souls, and would evidence it by walking according to the rules 
of society. As soon as I ended, they came forward again with 
streaming eyes, and desired to join, till we made up the number 
of eighty-three. On Chesterfield circuit near one hundred have 
joined society, and the prospect is brightening. In Pomfret and 
New London, nearly one hundred have joined society." 

Lee says of the New London district, that " there was a 
greater work of the Lord in the conversion of souls in that part 
of New England than had ever been known among the Meth- 
odists in those parts of the country." "^ 

The aggregate membership of the Methodist societies in New 
England, at the close of the ecclesiastical year, was 6976; there 
had been a gain since the last returns of more than 1100 — nearly 
one-seventh of the increase of the whole denomination in the 
United States and Canada. This growth had been chiefly in 
New Hampshire and Vermont. The former had gained more 
than 350, and now reported 524 members ; Vermont returned 
1607, making a gain of 511. At this time, and down to a much 
later period, not only a large portion, but a large majority, of the 
converts of Methodism in New England, entered other commun- 
ions ; the annual returns form, therefore, no measure of the real 
usefulness of the denomination. These numerical facts, how- 
ever, exhibit a rapid success, especiall}'- when the recency and 
inauspicious circumstances of the church are considered. In 
about twelve years it had gained nearly 7000 members ; it had 
spread its doctrines everywhere through the Eastern States, and 
had awakened a general spirit of inquiry respecting them ; its 
plans of Itinerant preaching comprehended the latest as well as 
the oldest settlements, and were beginning to be subdivided, and 
to admit of more thorough labor ; chapels, though yet quite rude 
ones, were rapidly springing up over the country, and the inte- 
rior discipline of the denomination was beginning to assume 
consistency and stability. 

* Short History of Methodists. Anno 1800. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONFERENCES OF 1801. 

I«e. — Asbury. — New York Conference. — Lorenzo Dow. — Candidates. — Success. — New 
England Conference. — Proceedings. — Finances. — Returns from the Appointments.— 
New Appointments. 

Of the Conferences of 1801, which come within the limits of 
our narrative, we have scarcely any information. Neither Lee 
nor Asbury attended them. The former, after his tour of the 
preceding year through New England, preached in New York 
city till the beginning of spring, when he passed southward to 
resume his old posts of labor in the Middle States. He had 
completed his great mission in the east — a mission great in its 
results already, and increasingly great, as each succeeding year 
has continued to unfold its consequences. The bishop, after he 
last passed from our view on the border of New England, 
continued his route rapidly from state to state, westward and 
southward. He commenced his " northern march," as he calls 
it, from Georgia, in the middle of winter. Whatcoat left him 
sick in Philadelphia in June, and came northward alone, to 
attend the New York and New England Conferences. 

The New York session began in the city of New York, June 
1, 1801. "It was," says a member who was present, "a good 
Conference ; much love and good will were manifest in the preach- 
ers. Holiness was still our aim. This doctrine was, in our view, 
of the highest importance to the Christian world, and the grand 
mark of our high calling. Perfect repentance, perfect faith, 
perfect love, were all implied in the grand doctrine of holiness ; 
and every one seemed to pant after it, as the hart panteth for 
the cooling water-brook. To see this among so many preachers, 
though myself the least, when I went from the Conference I was 



106 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

refreshed as with new wine ; and as a giant I felt strong to run 
my co'irse, — to renew the war against the devil and sin." ^ 

The venerable Laban Clark was present. He says, " This 
was the first Annual Conference that I had ever attended. I 
was not only pleased with their appearance, but with the digni- 
fied manner and Christian spirit with which they conducted the 
business of the session. Seventeen preachers were admitted on 
'trial, seven remained on trial, and four were admitted into full 
connection. The Conference was composed mostly of young 
men in the prime of life, and none past the meridian and vigor 
of manhood. All appeared healthy, and capable of enduring 
labor ; and looking at them, I said to myself, with such men we 
can take the world."! 

There were at least seventeen New England circuits repre- 
sented in this session, comprismg all the societies in Connecti- 
cut, western Massachusetts, Vermont, and a portion of New 
Hampshire. Some of the most noted men of our annals were 
present, — Merwin, Moriarty, Bostwick, Brodhead, Ryan, Van- 
nest, Clark, Sabin, Mitchell, Ostrander, and others. Nearly 
forty preachers, about one-half of the Conference, pertained to 
New England. Among them was one whose unexpected re- 
appearance in their midst created no little surprise, if not per- 
plexity — the eccentric Lorenzo Dow. He was one of those 
nondescript but earnest men, who, attracted by the energy and 
enthusiasm of Methodism, joined its early ranks quite numer- 
ously. The rigid economy of the denomination generally 
restrained their eccentricities, but Dow was not so easily con- 
trolled. 

The ample range of the Itinerancy was not sufficient for his 
erratic spirit. He had been received, with several years' delay, 
into the travelling connection ; but after laboring about two years, 
with indefatigable diligence and marvellous success, in various 
parts of New England, he believed himself called, as we have 
noticed in our preceding volume, by a preternatural impression, 
to preach in Ireland. After passing through many adversities 
in that country, he now suddenly appeared in the midst of his 

*Hibbard's Memoirs. t Communication to the author. 



CONFERENCES OF 1801. 107 

old fellow-laborers, many of whom admired his sincere zeal and 
herculean energy, while they feared his eccentricity. They 
recognized his relation to the Conference, and appointed him to 
a circuit — the last one he travelled. Before the next session 
he departed for the south, and commenced that wandering and 
tireless career of ministerial labor which has made his name 
familiar in every corner of the nation. He possessed character- 
istics not devoid of interest to the student of human nature. 

Several young men were received on trial, who have since 
" made full proof of their ministry." Among them was Elijah 
Hedding, Phineas Peck, Ebenezer Washburn, Martin Ruter, 
Laban Clark, Seth Crowell, and Thomas Branch, — now 
endeared names of either veterans or martyrs in our Itinerancy. 

Many of the preachers brought With them cheering intelli- 
gence of the prosperity of the past year. It had been a period of 
religious interest in not only New England, but all parts of the 
country. Lee says, " I suppose the Methodist connection hardly 
ever knew such a time of the general revival of religion, through 
the whole of their circuits, as they had about the latter part of 
the year 1800." ^ 

The New England Conference commenced its session at 
Lynn, Mass., July 17th. Whatcoat presided. It was composed 
of sixteen members, one-half of whom were elders, the other 
half deacons, t The names of most of the little band are still 
familiar to the church, for rare services or rare characteristics. 
Among them are George Pickering, Joshua Taylor, Joshua 
Wells, Thomas Sargent, Daniel Fiddler, John Finnegan, 
Epaphras Kibby, Joseph Snelling, Daniel Webb, Asa Heath, 
Joshua Soule. Another sainted name was added to the list at 
the present session — that of Oliver Beale, who was received on 
trial by the recommendation of the Quarterly Conference of 
Union circuit, Maine. 

Solomon Langdon, " being present, passed examination ; and 
being blameless in his life and conversation, as well as useful in 
the work of the ministry, was continued on trial, he not having 

* Short History, Anno 1800. 

t Ms. Records. — There were also several Probationers present. 



108 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

travelled two years." Nathan Emery, Joshua Soule, and John 
Kinney, a local preacher of Maine, were elected to the office of 
deacons. Epaphras Kibby, broken in health by his extreme 
labors and exposures in Maine, was granted a " dispensation " 
for one year. Joseph Snelling and Aaron Humphreys were the 
only members elected to Elder's orders. William Beauchamp, 
Joshua Hall, and Andrew Nichols, were compelled by sickness 
or domestic necessities to retire into the local ranks. 

The records show the jealous caution of the Conference. A 
local preacher from Maine was refused admission to the travel- 
ling connection, "not on account of any immoralities, but on 
account of a family concern, together with some imprudences." 
The Conference " supposed that he wanted both gifts and a 
good report from those who are without." This rejection was 
unanimous. A candidate who had travelled through the two 
years of probation underwent not only a severe examination, 
" in which many things were said for and against him," but 
also a formal admonition from the bishop. " Levity of conversa- 
tion, neglect of meeting the Classes, and the want of gifts and 
grace adequate to the work of the ministry, together with the 
want of zeal and vigilance, were alleged against him. It was 
voted that he should be continued on trial, provided the bishop 
would give him a reprimand, which was given ; and, after con- 
sidering thereupon, he consented to fill an appointment." 

The records of the Conference show that the pecuniary priva- 
tions of the ministry were unabated. Though, as we have 
heretofore seen, the " allowances " were, besides travelling 
expenses, but $80 per annum for the preacher, an equal 
amount for his wife, and but $14 for each child under seven 
years, and $24 for each between seven and fourteen years, yet 
was there a deficiency of nearly $700 in the receipts of the 
twenty-two claimants of the Conference, and all these claimants 
except four were single 7nen^ and therefore entitled to but 
$80 each. These facts present a very significant illustration of 
the early trials of our ministry. The aggregate amount allowed 

* We ascertain this fact by the amount of allowance against each name in the Con- 
ference records. 



CONFERENCES OF 1800-1. 109 

these twenty-two men and their families, according to the dis- 
cipline and the Conference records, was but $2206.09 ; and, on 
this pittance of about $100 each, the aggregate deficit was 
$688.94, nearer one-third than one-fourth. The only men 
who received their full allowance of $80 were Pickering, Sar- 
gent, Wells, Beauchamp and Kibby. Some received not half the 
amount due them. The resources to meet these deficiencies 
scarcely afforded $170. The dividend from the chartered fund 
was greater in those days of fewer Conferences than it is at 
present; it amounted this year to $110. The Baltimore Con- 
ference, which had supplied to New England some of its noblest 
young men, sent, as a " compliment," $25. The preachers 
made up, by voluntary contributions among themselves, about 
$27; and two circuits, Warren and Needham, had sent on small 
sums, amounting to about $8. 

The reports of success which the preachers brought from their 
circuits were not so remarkable as those which had been borne 
to the New York session, as the localities of the chief religious 
interest of the year were in Vermont, New Hampshire, western 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and therefore pertained to the 
jursidiction of the latter Conference. Sargent reported seventy- 
five members in Boston, only a gain of three during the year. 
The early progress of Methodism was discouragingly slow in the 
metropolis ; it had gained only an average of two members per 
annum, during the last five years; but in no place did the 
denomination show more of its characteristic tenacity and hope- 
fulness ; it held on its course unwaveringly, till better auspices 
appeared. Joshua Wells had a still less encouraging account 
to give of Lynn; he had applied "the discipline" rigorously, 
and returned but eighty-nine members — a decrease of five on 
the returns of the preceding year. Beauchamp had labored suc- 
cessfully at Nantucket. He was the first travelling preacher 
regularly sent thither.^ His returns amounted to eighty, and 
a large chapel had been erected. No returns were reported 
from Rhode Island; the statistics of the previous year were 

* Joseph Snelling was appointed in 1799, but was sent elsewhere by the Presiding 
Elder. 

10 



110 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

therefore inserted in the minutes. From the new Bethel circuit 
in Maine, fifty-two members were reported. Young Timothy 
Merritt returned a gain of twenty-five on Bath and Union 
circuit. Daniel Webb had been prospered on Norridgewock 
circuit, and Epaphras Kibby reported three hundred and eighty- 
four members from Readfield circuit, — a gain of seventy-four 
during the year. 

The Conference continued till the 20th of July, when, after 
singing and prayer, it adjourned' to meet at Monmouth, the 
locality of the first Methodist society in Maine, on the 1st of 
July, 1802. " On the Sabbath-day," adds the records, " two 
Deacons and two Elders were ordained ; Brother Soule, being 
absent, missed of his ordination." Such are the scanty intima- 
tions which we have been able to gather respecting the Con- 
ferences of 1801. 

The appointments in the Eastern States, made this year at 
the New England session, were the following. 

Boston District. Joshua Taylor, Presiding Elder. Nantuck- 
et, Joshua Wells ; Provincetown, Solomon Langdon ; Sandwich, 
Joshua Soule ; Warren, Greenwich, and Rhode Island, John 
Finnegan and Daniel Fiddler; Needham, Joseph Snelling; Bos- 
ton, Lynn, and Marblehead, George Pickering and Thomas Sar- 
gent ; Merrimac, Daniel Webb ; Hawke, John Merrick. 

Province of Maine District. Ralph Williston, Presiding 
Elder. Portland, Reuben Hubbard ; Readfield, Asa Heath and 
Oliver Beale; Bath and Union, Timothy Merritt, Comfort C. 
Smith ; Penobscot, Joseph Baker ; Union, Nathan Emery ; Nor- 
ridgewock, Aaron Humphrey ; Bethel, John Gove. 

The New England appointments of the New York Con- 
ference, for the present year, were. 

New London District. John Brodhead, Presiding Elder. 
Tolland, Augustus Jocelyn, Henry Eames ; New London and 
Pomfret, Peter Vannest, Phineas Peck, James Annis ; Chester- 
field, Abner Wood and Martin Ruter ; Wethersfield, John Nich- 
ols and Elijah Ward ; Hanover, Reuben Jones and Joshua 
Crowell ; Vershire, Trueman Bishop and Thomas Branch ; Lan- 



CONFERENCES OF 1800-1. Ill 

daff, Elijah R. Sabin and Matthew Felch ; Barnard, Joseph 
Crawford. 

PiTTSFiELD District. Shadrach Bostwick, Presiding Elder. 
Cambridge, Roger Searle and Ebenezer Stevens ; Vergennes, 
Henry Ryan; Fletcher, James Coleman and Laban Clark; 
Brandon, Ezekiel Canfield, Ebenezer Washburn ; Pittsjield, 
Joseph Mitchell and Oliver Hall; Whittingham, Daniel Brura- 
ley ; Granville, Timothy Dewy and Alexander McClure. 

Besides these, there were on the New York District, under 
Freeborn Garrettson as Presiding Elder, Redding, Samuel Mer- 
win and Isaac Candee ; Litchfield, Peter Moriarty and John 
Sweet; Middletoimi, Elijah Batchelor and Luman Andrus. 

The ecclesiastical field in New England comprehended, then, 
for the year 1801-1802, four districts, and part (nearly one 
half) of another ; thirty five circuits and stations,^ and fifty- 
eight preachers, comprising the Presiding Elders. We have 
included in this estimate the Cambridge circuit, which, though 
named from a New York town, took in some seven or eight 
towns of Vermont.! There was a gain of apparently two cir- 
cuits, but really of four ; for two which had been distinct the pre- 
ceding year — Rhode Island and Pomfret — were now merged in 
adjacent appointments. The new circuits were Barnard, Whit- 
tingham (which had been the northern part of Pittsfield circuit), 
Brandon (the southern section of Vergennes circuit), all in Ver- 
mont, and Hanover in New Hampshire. Several of the other 
circuits had been greatly extended during the past year, but there 
were not laborers enough to admit of their division. It will be 
noticed, that though the native New England ministry was 
multiplying fast, yet the more important posts were still sus- 
tained by the strong men who had come from the Middle States. 
All the Presiding Elders were from among Lee's pioneers. 

* Boston, Lynn, and Marblehead, recorded in the Minutes as one, were really sep- 
arate, but the preachers exchanged every two weeks, 
t Bishop Hedding to the author. 



CHAPTER X. 

NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 

Samuel Merwin. — His Appointments. — His Character. — Peter Moriarty. — His early 
History. — His Appointments. — His Death. — Thomas Branch. — His Appointments. — 
Departure to the West. — The old Western Conference. — His remarkable Death. — 
Bishop Hedding at his Grave. —His Character. 

In the list of New England appointments this year, are several 
names which have become memorable to the church. That of 
Samuel Merwin will not soon be forgotten among the societies 
of the Atlantic States from Canada to Maryland. Dignified in 
person, powerful in eloquence, generous in spirit, and mighty in 
labors, he was one of the " giants of those days." He was dear 
to New England, not only by his labors, but as one of her own 
sons, being born in Durham, Conn., Sept. 13, 1777. His early 
education was strictly religious, and it is said he was from child- 
hood the subject of deep spiritual impressions — an explanation, 
in part, of the remarkable force of his religious principles and 
address in subsequent years. While quite young, he was awak- 
ened to seek the salvation of his soul, under a funeral discourse ; 
and it is believed that he was converted at this time, but, for 
lack of suitable guidance, relapsed into a state of carelessness, 
till the Methodist ministry reached his place of residence, then 
at New Durham, N. Y., where he was again thoroughly awak- 
ened and soundly converted. Glowing with the joy and zeal of 
a new life, he soon began to exhort on those social religious 
occasions with which Methodism abounds, and which have pre- 
eminently tended to draw forth the talent of its young men, and 
thereby to recruit its ministry. When not yet twenty years of 
age, he was despatched, by a Presiding Elder, to labor on a part 
of the Delaware district, N. Y., and in the year 1800 was 
received as a probationer at the New York Conference. And 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 113 

now commenced that career of ministerial labors and successes, 
extending through about forty years, which has rendered his 
name familiar through our northern and middle churches. The 
long catalogue of his appointments is a significant memorial of 
his services. 

He was sent, in 1800, to Long Island circuit; 1801, Redding, 
Ct.; 1802, Adams, Mass. ; 1803, Montreal, Canada ; 1804, New 
York city ; 1805, Redding, Conn., with Peter Moriarty ; 1806, 
Boston, Mass., with Peter Jane ; 1807 and 1808, Newport, R. I. ; 
1809, Bristol and Rhode Island; 1810, Albany circuit; 1811, 
Schenectady; 1812 and 1813, Albany city; 1814, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. ; 1815-18, Presiding Elder of New York district ; 1819, 
New York city; 1S20, Albany city; 1821-23, New Haven 
district; 182^25, Baltimore; 1826-27, Philadelphia; 1828-29, 
Troy, N. Y. ; 1830-31, New York city; 1832-35, New York 
district; 1836, New York city ; 1837-38, Rhinebeck, N. Y. 

We miss his name among the appointments in the Minutes for 
1839, but find it first on the list of the dead, with those of Smith 
Arnold, John Finnegan, and John D. Bangs, all New England 
Evangelists. He departed to his rest in peace, at Rhinebeck, 
N. Y., Jan. 13, 1839, after preaching the Gospel about two-score 
years, with great power and great success. 

It will be inferred, from the important posts assigned him, that 
he was a chief among his brethren. His person was large and 
commanding, and his voice musical and strong, swaying the 
largest assemblies. He possessed superior powers of govern- 
ment, and discharged the functions of the Presiding Eldership 
with special ability. The invaluable talent of reconciling dis- 
cordant brethren or societies was his in a rare degree, and the 
kindly, sympathetic spirit which usually accompanies that talent 
characterized him everywhere, and imparted to his ministrations 
especially a richly consolatory character. His pulpit appeals 
were accompanied by a flowing and sweeping eloquence, and the 
living evidences of his usefulness are yet found throughout the 
whole extent of his pastoral labors. His brethren of the New 
York Conference say of him, " Samuel Merwin loved his church, 
and was most ardently devoted to its interests. Wise in counsel 
10^ 



114 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM, 

and skilled in execution, he was always ready to step forward in 
defence of its rights : he was the friend of all its literary and 
benevolent institutions ; to support them he gave his influence 
and his money ; his voice, too, was often heard, powerfully and 
successfully pleading their respective claims. But he has gone, 
and 'precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
saints.' " 

Peter Moriarty, who was appointed this year to Litchfield 
circuit, also became a veteran in the Itinerancy, and left a fra- 
grant memory in the church. He is another example of that 
powerful influence which Methodism exerted, in its early days, 
over the popular mind, subduing the prejudices of education, and 
smiting, with resistless religious convictions, all classes of men 
who came within the reach of its ministrations. He left a brief 
manuscript narrative of his early Christian experience, in which 
he says, "I was born in Maryland, Baltimore County, April 27, 
1758. My parents were Roman Catholics, and my early educa- 
tion was in the Catholic faith. At eleven years of age I was 
brought to the priest (by my parents) to confess my sins, accord- 
ing to the custom of the Catholics ; as also to the sacrament of 
the Lord's supper, which I was taught to believe was the real 
body and blood of Christ. I went on in this blind way till I was 
about sixteen years of age, when it pleased God to send the 
Methodists into the neighborhood where I was born. They soon 
made a great stir among the people. At length a way provi- 
dentially opened for me to hear them. They seemed more like 
angels than men; yet I concluded they could not be right, 
because they preached that men must know their sins forgiven 
in this life, in order to be happy hereafter ; which I thought to 
be impossible. I continued to hear them till it pleased the Lord 
to open my eyes ; I then saw that all my confessions to the 
priest were only delusions of Satan, — I was yet in the road to hell 
and destruction, with all my sins upon my head : it was then 
said, by priest and people, ' that the Methodists had made me 
mad,' and ' that I ought to be restrained from hearing them.' 
My distress was inconceivably great : I was afraid of God and 
man ; I could neither eat, drink, nor sleep, for some time, I felt 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 115 

such a pressing load of guilt. My father looked upon me as a 
graceless child, and said by my weeping and wailing for my sins 
I was bringing a disgrace on the family ; and threatened, if I did 
not desist, he would turn me away from his house. I applied 
myself to reading the Scriptures, and sought the Lord according 
to the light I had, until the Lord looked upon me in my distress, 
and spoke peace to my troubled soul. I felt I knew that God 
was reconciled. After this I joined the society, and for several 
years remained as a private member. When about twenty years 
of age, I began to feel much impressed to call sinners to repent- 
ance. Upon this subject my trials were severe ; they so affected 
me, that, by reasonings, and temptations of Satan, I almost lost 
my senses. My inability to so great a work was constantly 
before me. After a long struggle, and a variety of exercises, I 
gave myself up to the work of the ministry in the year 1781." 
He appears to have begun to travel in the interim of the 
Conference, as his name does not appear in the Minutes till 
1782, and then he is recorded as remaining on trial. 

Down to 1785, his appointments were within the old Virginia 
Conference. They were as follows: 1782, Brunswick; 1783, 
Caswell, as colleague of Jesse Lee; 1784, Halifax; 1785, Red- 
stone, with Wilson Lee. The next year, following the example 
of many of the preachers of the Middle States, he started north- 
ward, and was stationed in Philadelphia ; in 1787, he advanced 
still further, and was appointed to Long Island circuit ; in 
1788-89, to New Eochelle, N. Y., which reached into New 
England; 1790-91, Dutchess, N. Y., with Menzies Rainor; 
1792, Croton, N. Y. ; 1793, New Rochelle, N. Y. ; 1794, Cro- 
ton and New Rochelle, N. Y. ; 1795-96, Dutchess; 1797, 
Columbia, N. Y. His name disappears from the appointments 
in 1799, by a typographical inaccuracy, we suppose, as there is 
no reason assigned for its omission, and it is retained in the list 
of Elders. In 1800 he was sent again to Columbia, N. Y. The 
next year he entered New England, and travelled the Litchfield 
circuit, Mass. In 1802 he again disappears ; in the following 
year he was appointed to Croton, N. Y. ; 1804-5, Redding, Ct., 
with Samuel Merwin; 1806-7, he was Presiding Elder on 



116 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Rhinebeck district, which extended over a portion of New Eng- 
land ; 1808, Dutchess; 1809, Ulster; 1810, Chatham ; 1811-13, 
Ashgrove district, which brought him again into New England. 
In the latter year, while on his way from the Conference to his 
field of labor, he was attacked by fever, and remained at a 
friend's on the route, unable to proceed. When he had partially 
recovered, he resumed his journey ; but, on arriving at his home 
in Hillsdale, May 25th, he w^as unfit to prosecute his ministerial 
duties. The " ruling passion " was with him, however, " strong 
in death ; " he had been sounding the alarm through the land, 
for more than thirty-two years, as an Itinerant Evangelist, and 
this delay for death seemed too long and too indolent. A scene 
occurred like that which we have recorded in the sketch of the 
heroic Pickering. Believing himself better, he retired to bed on 
the night of the 23d of June, directing his little son to have his 
horse ready early the next morning, that he might again take 
the field, and attend a Quarterly Conference, which was to be 
held that day, at the distance of a few miles. In the morning, 
when called, he was silent ; a higher summons had come to him. 
A physician who was called pronounced him dead, and to have 
been so several hours. Thus did this faithful soldier of the cross 
lay down in his tent at night, to rest from his conflicts, and in 
the morning was not, for God had taken him, " On the day he 
was interred, he was to have held a Quarterly Meeting about 
three miles from his hoiipc. But who can tell ihe consternation 
of the people, collecting from a large circnit, Vv-ho on the ?pot 
met their Presiding Elder in his cofBn I A funeral sermon was 
delivered to an attentive, weeping congregation, collected from 
every direction." =^ 

The obituary record of his Conference says, " He was among 
the oldest of our travelling ministers, and held a rank that enti- 
tled him to the confidence and the affections of the connection ; 
and no doubt but his Lord will pronounce him worthy to wear a 
crown in his kingdom, in which there will be many stars. He 
labored long, and labored much, to win souls. Although he 
might not have been classed among the greatest speakers, cer- 

* Minutes, 1814, 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 117 

tainly he was among the most useful ; plain in his dress, plain 
in his manners, and plain and pointed in his preaching, upright 
in all his deportment; in short, his life was a constant comment 
upon the Gospel he preached. He delighted in good order and 
discipline ; in the latter he was thought by some to be rather 
rigorous. He has gone out and in before the flock of 
God, respected by ministers and people, who seem to express 
but one sentiment. He was pious as a Christian, useful and 
beloved as a minister ; even the careless and profane who knew 
him in life are ready to pour upon his tomb the honors his 
upright life deserved."^ 

An interesting character, on the Conference roll this year for 
the first time, was Thomas Branch, one of the saintliest of 
the holy men who ministered to the church in those days of its 
first trials. He was a native of Preston, Conn., but the date of 
his birth has not been ascertained. After travelling a few 
months, by appointment of the Presiding Elder, he was received 
on probation at the New York Conference of 1801, — one of a 
noble band of New England preachers who commenced their 
Itinerant career about the same time, among whom were Martin 
Rater, Laban Clark, Elijah Hedding, Phineas Peck, Ebenezer 
Washburn, Seth Crowell, and Oliver Beale. His appointment, 
the present year, was Vershire circuit, Vt., a range of travel 
about three hundred and fifty miles around, and comprising 
nearly twenty-five towns. During the next four years he 
travelled, respectively, Lunenburg (Mass.), LandafT (N. H.), 
Pomfret (Conn.), and New London (Conn.) circuits. In 1806 
he had charge of New London district, and the next four years 
he presided over the Vermont district. His health failed under 
the incessant preaching and winter exposures of this large field 
of labor, which reached into Canada, and required, especially in 
winter, difficult travelling and much suffering. 

In 1811, at the expiration of his term of service on the dis- 
trict, he was placed on the supernumerary list, as a disabled 
man. The zeal of his spirit could not, however, be checked by 
the infirmity of the body ; he had thoroughly consecrated him- 

* Minutes, 1814. 



118 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

self to his work, and was resolute to die in it. Unable longer 
to sustain the inclemencies of our climate, he proposed to go to 
the south-west, and labor, while his dwindling strength should 
last, in the western Conference — the only Conference then 
beyond the Alleghanies. It extended from Detroit to Natchez, 
and was the great frontier battle-field of Methodism, where 
Cartwright, Finley, Young, Blackman, Winans, Larkin, Quinn, 
and other giant men, were bearing on the cross in the van of 
emigration, and travelling vast circuits, over parts of which they 
had to be protected from the savages by armed escorts. Besides 
the various choice of climate which this immense field afforded, 
there was, to the devoted mind of Branch, an heroic if not 
romantic attraction in its adventurous life, and the triumph with 
which the Itinerant ministry was spreading the truth in its 
wildernesses; for though it had been organized only about 
twenty years, it already ranked as fourth in numerical strength 
among all the Conferences, and comprised more than twenty- 
seven thousand members. Its white membership was larger 
than that of any other Conference. 

Branch took leave of his eastern brethren, in much debility, 
and departed on horseback, with the usual Itinerant accompani- 
ment, the saddle-bags for his few books and rations, to penetrate 
through the forests to Marietta, on the Ohio. He never arrived, 
however. On passing from the western wilds of New York, 
down towards Ohio, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, he 
disappeared. News came, at last, that he had died somewhere 
among the log cabins in the then remote wilderness of the north- 
western angle of Pennsylvania ; but even this vague informa- 
tion reached not most of those to whom he was dear in New 
England till fifteen years later, when one of his old fellow- 
laborers at the east, who had, meanwhile, been elevated to the 
Episcopacy, was pursuing his official visitations at the west, and 
accidentally discovering the place of his decease, sent home for 
publication in New England information of his fate.=^ " He 

* Bishop Hedding, to whom we are indebted for these facts, and who published them 
in the Zion's Herald of 1826. 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 119 

fell," wrote his friend, " m the wilderness, on his way to this 
country, in the month of June, 1812. His sepulchre is in the 
woods, in the State of Pennsylvania, near the shore of Lake 
Erie, between the States of New York and Ohio. As I came 
through that part of the country, I made inquiry respecting the 
sickness, death, and burial, of our once beloved fellow-laborer in 
the cause of Christ. An intelligent friend, who said he had 
frequently visited and watched with him in his last sickness, 
and attended his funeral, gave me, in substance, the following 
circumstances. When Brother Branch came into the neighbor- 
hood where he died, it was a new settlement, where there was 
no Methodist society, and but few professors of religion of any 
name. He preached on a Sabbath, and at the close of the ser- 
vice stated to the strangers that he was on a journey, — that he 
was ill and unable to proceed, — and desired that some one would 
entertain him till he should recover his strength sufficiently to 
pursue his journey. There was a long time of silence in the 
congregation ; at last, one came forward and invited him home. 
At that house he lingered many weeks, and finally expired. The 
accommodations were poor for a sick man; — a small log house, 
containing a large family, consisting in part of small children; 
but doubtless it was the best the place could afford. In his sick- 
ness (which was a pulmonary consumption), his sufferings were 
severe ; but his patience and his religious consolations were 
great also. He frequently preached, prayed, and exhorted, 
sitting on his bed, when he was unable to go out, or even to 
stand. And so he continued laboring for the salvation of men 
while his strength would permit, and rejoicing in the Lord to 
the hour of his death. The above-named eye and ear witness 
informed me that Brother Branch frequently said to him ' It is 
an inscrutable Providence that brought me here to die in this 
wilderness.' — 'But,' said the witness, 'that Providence was 
explained after his death. For, through the instrumentality of 
his labors, his patience, fortitude, and religious joys, in his sick- 
ness, a glorious revival of religion shortly after took place, a 
goodly number of souls were converted to God, — other preach- 
ers were invited to the place, and a large Methodist society 



120 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

was organized after his death.' That society continues to pros- 
per, and they have now a decent house for worship. After the 
soul of our brother had rested in heaven, his body was conveyed 
to the grave on a sled, drawn by oxen. The corpse was carried 
to a log building in the woods, called a meeting-house ; but the 
proprietors denied admittance, and the funeral solemnities were 
performed without. As I came through the woodland in company 
with a preacher, having been informed where the place of our 
friend's interment was, leaving our horse and carriage by the road, 
we walked some rods into the forest, and found the old log meet- 
ing-house, which had refused the stranger the rites of a funeral ; 
but it was partly fallen, and forsaken. Then following a narrow 
path some distance further through the woods, we came to a small 
opening, which appeared to have been cleared of the wood for a 
habitation for the dead. After walking and looking some time, 
a decent stone, near one corner of the yard, under the shade of 
the thick-set, tall forest, informed us where the body of our 
dear departed friend had been laid. A large oak-tree had fallen, 
and lay across two of the adjoining tenants of that lonely place. 
We kneeled, prayed, and left the lonely spot, in joyful hopes of 
meeting our brother again at the resurrection of the just. The 
associations of the place carried my thoughts back to the 
northern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, where, many 
years since, I had rode, walked, talked, and prayed, in com- 
pany with Thomas Branch. Two important reflections have 
since often impressed my mind. One is, in how many cir- 
cumstances a faithful minister of Christ may be useful — even 
in his most severe sufferings, and under the darkest dispen- 
sations of Providence which he may be called to endure. 
Little did Thomas Branch think that the fruits of his last 
labors and sufferings would be so abundant after his death. 
The other is, how much good may be done by the remembrance 
of the virtues of a faithful Christian, long after he is dead. 
The memory of the example of Thomas Branch, revived in my 
mind by visiting his grave, has been a means of quickening my 
desires to live as he lived, and of strengthening my hopes of 
finally reaching that heaven to which, I trust, he has gone." 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS. 121 

Thomas Branch was an able, powerful preacher ; his memory 
is still inexpressibly precious among the elder Methodists of 
New England, many of whom were led by him to the " Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." He " walked 
with God," and the unction of Divine grace seemed ever to 
abide upon his soul. " His conversation was in heaven," and in 
the social circle, as well as in the pulpit, he continually preached 
Christ. His old fellow-laborers spoke of him, in their Conference 
obituary, with unwonted emphasis : — " An Israelite indeed, in life 
and in death. Who ever saw him out of the gravity and sin- 
cerity of a Christian minister? always apparently collected and 
recollected — a child of affliction and a son of resignation : how 
loved and honored of God and men ! For several years a mem- 
ber of our connection, and secretary for the New England Con- 
ference. Rest, rest, weary dust ! Rest, weary spirit, with the 
Father of spirits, and live forever ! " 

The heart of many an old Methodist will throb, and his eyes 
water, at the sanctified recollections of this sainted man which 
our brief narrative will recall ; and as we pen these closing lines 
with a painful sense of their unavoidable inadequacy for a char- 
acter so interesting, we feel nevertheless thankful that we are 
permitted to rescue, from the oblivion which was fast obscuring 
it, a name that deserves to rank with those of saints and 
martyrs, and of which we take leave with no ordinary senti- 
ments of Christian love and veneration, 
11 



CHAPTER XI. 

NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 

Washburn. — Calvinism. — Christian Experience. — Joseph Sawyer. — Lorenzo 
Dow. — Appointments. — Sanctification. — Grave of Martin Ruter. — His early Life. — 
Margaret Peckett. — John Brodhead. — Ruter enters the Ministry — Appointments. — 
Dies in Texas. — His Character. 

Among the few veterans of our Itinerancy who still survive 
from the early period we are now contemplating-, is Ebenezer 
Washburn, who, after about a half-century spent in the min- 
istry, is awaiting, in a venerable and devout old age, the summons 
which shall reunite him with his old fellow-laborers, in their 
eternal rest. He was born in Hardwich, Worcester County, 
Mass., Oct. 25th, 1772, and trained in the strictest religious 
education of the times. " The ever-faithful Spirit," he says,=^ 
" the Divine Comforter, often accompanied the instructions and 
admonitions of my pious mother, and reproved me of sin, of 
righteousness, and of a judgment to come. Often I was 
brought to see myself to be a sinner against God, and to be con- 
vinced of the necessity of a change of heart, in order to be happy 
here or hereafter ; and often was my conviction so great as to 
drive me to secret prayer. But, alas ! I had no one to direct me 
to come to Christ in the means of grace ; the doctrine was, that 
the sinner could neither repent nor believe till he was converted 
by the sovereign power of God. All the preaching I heard was 
in strict conformity with the Saybrook Platform and the West- 
minster Confession of Faith. And when I went to my pious 
mother for an explication of these, she would tell me that they 
were mysteries, dark and incomprehensible, — that I ought not to 
try to search into them. My conclusion was, that it was useless 

* Letters in the Christian Adv. and Jour., 1842. 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 123 

for me to make myself unhappy by reflecting on the subject. If 
I was one of the elect, God would bring me in when it should 
meet the counsel of his own will, and best subserve his own 
glory ; and if I was a reprobate, and must inevitably go to hell, 
since neither prayers, nor tears, nor anything else, could alter my 
case, it would not be wise in me to be the instrument of torment- 
ing myself before the time, but to leave that matter wholly 
with God : eat, drink and be merry, and take all the comfort I 
could in the present life. Thus I went on, being often awakened, 
and as often repelling conviction by language drawn from the 
common creed of New England. What a wonder of mercy that 
I was not driven into a state of total despair ! " He removed, in 
1796, to Petersburg, N. Y. Here he heard, in 1798, for the first 
time, a Methodist preacher — Joseph Sawyer. The sermon 
seemed designed as a picture of his own character. It portrayed 
him with minute accuracy, and produced an irresistible effect 
on his conscience. His account of the subsequent exercises of 
his mind presents some very interesting illustrations of Christian 
experience, as well as of the desperate conflict which truth has 
often to wage in the human mind with the errors of a wrong 
education. " I strove at first to conceal my feelings, but it was 
in vain; for ere I was aware my eyes overflowed with tears, I 
sighed with anguish, and I wept in the bitterness of my soul. 
When the preacher had closed his exercise, he came and sat 
down by me, and asked me if I had ever experienced religion ? 
I said ' No.' He then asked me if I believed in the reality of 
religion. I answered 'Yes.' — 'Well,' said he, 'if I will give 
you a few words of good advice, will you follow them ? ' — I said, 
* I will, as far as I am able.' — ' Then,' said he, ' I advise you to 
search the Scriptures every day ; to pray in secret at least twice 
a day; to avoid that which you know to be wrong; and to walk 
according to the best light you can obtain. Is this good advice ? ' 
I answered in the affirmative. ' Then,' said he, ' God is witness 
between you and me. You have promised that if I would give 
you good advice, you would follow it' And he rose and left 
me. I thought I would have given almost anything in my 
power to give, if he would have stayed and have given me an 



124 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

opportunity to tell him the feelings of my heart, and have given 
me some further religious instruction ; but he was immediately 
on his horse, and gone. I returned home with a heavy heart. 
When I retired to my bed-room, my promise came to my mind. 
But how could such a sinner pray ? It appeared to me, that if 
I attempted it, a just and holy God would spurn me from his 
presence. But God was witness between me and the preacher, 
and I dare not forfeit my promise. With a trembling heart, 1 
fell on my knees by the bedside ; and, after remaining some time 
in profound and fearful silence, I began to repeat the Lord's 
Prayer ; when it appeared as though a voice whispered in my 
ear, ' There, you miserable reprobate ! you have called God your 
Father! And do you believe he will acknowledge that relation 
to such an abominable child of the devil as you ? ' I rose from 
my knees much affrighted, and almost involuntarily cried, ' God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! ' I got into bed ; but there was 
neither rest nor sleep for me that night. 1 was a sinner against 
God ; and the axe was already raised in the hand of Justice, 
to cut me down as a cumberer of the ground. 

" The next morning, urged on by my promise, I knelt down 
and tried to pray ; but I had said but a few words before the 
subtle enemy presented to my mind the whole system of Hop- 
kinsianism, and suggested that the prayers of the wicked are 
abomination to the Lord ; hence every petition I attempted to 
make to the Lord would render me still more abominable in 
his sight, and would have a tendency to increase and enhance 
my destruction. 

" When I read the Scriptures, I found no comfort. All the 
threatenings were directed against me, while all the promises 
belonged to the elect. Thus I went on for several days. If I 
closed my eyes in sleep, I was terrified with dreams ; and when 
awake, I was so harassed with temptations as to disqualify me 
for any regular train of reflection. 

" The next Sabbath, I went to hear Lorenzo Dow. The whole 
drift of his discourse went to show the justice of the claims of 
the Divine law upon man, and to thunder its curses upon trans- 
gressors. Here I was cut off from every ground of hope, and 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 125 

driven into deeper despondency. At the close of his sermon, he 
requested all who wished to seek the salvation of their souls to 
kneel down with him, and he would pray for them. 

" I felt, that if there was salvation for so vile a wretch as I. 
I was willing to seek it at the expense of any sacrifice within 
my power to make, and immediately fell on my knees, as did 
several others. Here the enemy, taking advantage of my Cal- 
vinian education, sorely tempted me, telling me that I was a 
reprobate, and that I was deceiving that good man, and causing 
him to mock God, by praying to him to save one whom he had 
reprobated by an unalterable decree. When the congregation 
was dismissed, the preacher came to me, and asked me if I 
wished to seek the salvation of my soul. I told him I feared 
that I was a reprobate, and that there was no salvation for me. 
He said, ' Are you not a sinner ? ' — I answered ' Yes, one of the 
greatest of sinners.' — ' Did not Christ die for sinners? ' said he. 
' No,' said I, 'not for reprobate sinners.' — 'That is a mistake,' 
said he ; ' Christ died for none but reprobates. He came to save 
that which was lost ; and if you are lost, he came to save you. 
And the Bible tells you, that " he tasted death for every man." 
If you are a man, he tasted death for you.' He then quoted a 
number of scriptures to prove the universality of the atonement, 
and to show that every one might be saved who would believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He then persuaded me and several 
others to enter into covenant to meet Him at the throne of grace 
three times a day, till he came round again, in four weeks. 

" I was not troubled so much, after this. But when I attempted 
to pray, the enemy would suggest to my mind that it was too 
late. Time was when I might have obtained salvation ; but I 
bad resisted conviction, refused the ofTers of mercy, and chosen 
the way to death, till that time was passed by ; and I had sealed 
my own damnation by my own folly. Thus I went on for a 
little more than three weeks, sometimes faintly hoping that 
there was mercy in store for me, and sometimes almost in total 
despair. I never violated my covenant with the preachers, but 
maintained a fixed determination, that, if I perished, I would 
perish at the foot of the cross, crying out for mercy. 
11^ 



126 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" On Sabbath morning, after an almost sleepless night, I arose 
from iiiy bed a little before the rising of the sun, and after partly- 
dressing myself, I took up the Bible and opened it, with a strong 
cry, both in my heart and on my tongue, of ' God be merciful to 
me a sinner ! ' The first words I cast my eye upon were the 
words of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, ' In a little wrath I 
hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kind- 
ness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer/ 
Isa. 54 : 4. That moment the cloud broke, and the Spirit sealed 
the promise to my heart. My mournful state v/as changed ; 
my burden of guilt was removed, and a calm and heavenly 
peace sprang up within my breast. The change was truly 
glorious. I had such a view of the Saviour crucified for me, and 
of my acceptance with God through the merit of his blood, as I 
could never find language to express. My heart was filled with 
love, and my tongue was tuned to songs of praise." 

In those days, to become a Methodist was to become an active 
laborer in the church. Mr. Washburn soon began to exert 
himself for the salvation of his neighbors ; and in three years, 
he joined the New York Conference. He took his first appoint- 
ment the present year, on Bmndon circuit, Vt. It was a rough 
introduction to the trials of Itinerancy. " I went on," he says, 
" and found a large circuit, the country new, the roads bad, and 
the mud very deep. My first business was to alter my plan, so 
as to go around the circuit in three weeks. This reduced me 
to the necessity of preaching three times on the Sabbath, and 
twice almost every day in the week. I travelled my three 
w^eeks' circuit three months, and then the Lord and the Presiding 
Elder sent Brother Samuel Draper to my help. We labored 
together in much love and harmony one quarter, and then 1 
was moved to Vergennes circuit, to labor the rest of the year 
alone." 

In 1802 and 1803, he was sent to Granville circuit, Mass., 
with Henry Eames ; and his subsequent appointments were, 
1804 and 1S05, Middletown, Conn., with Nathan Emery ; 1806, 
New London, Conn. ; 1807, Pomfret, Conn. ; 1808, Ashburn- 
ham, Mass. ; 1809, Conference missionary. In 1810 he located, 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 127 

but in 1813 resumed his travels, and was appointed to Stratford, 
Conn., with James Coleman ; in 1814, he travelled Redding 
circuit. Conn. In 1815, he was stationed in New York city, where 
he continued two years, with Thatcher, Scholefield, Ostrander, 
and other New England preachers. In 1817, he took charge of 
Rhinebeck district, which he travelled till 1821, when he was 
appointed to Goshen, Conn. In 1822, he was returned to New 
York city, and continued there two years. In 1824, he was 
sent to New Haven, Conn. ; 1825 and 1826, Middletown, Conn. ; 
1827 and 1828, Goshen, Conn. ; 1829 and 1830, Redding, Conn. ; 
1831 and 1832, New Rochelle, N. Y. ; 1833 and 1834, New 
Galtz, N. Y. ; 1835, Amenia, N. Y. ; 1836 and 1837, Cornwall, 
Conn. ; 1841 and 1842, Winstead, Conn. In 1842, he retired 
into the superannuated ranks, with Hibbard, Woolsey, Crawford, 
Hunt, Ostrander, and other veterans of the New England field. 
He had travelled about two score years, with much success, and 
many incidents of adventure and suffering, which would add 
greatly to the interest of this brief sketch ; but, as be will 
reappear often in the course of our narrative,, we reserve them 
for future pages. 

Ebenezer Washburn is now bending under the weight of more 
than three score and ten years ; his brow is not only venerable 
with age, but with the development of strong faculties, and the 
indented lines of thought. The characteristic expression of his 
face is one of blended intellectual repose and energy. He 
has been distinguished by great purity and steadfastness of char- 
acter, and a theological acumen that served him admirably in 
the polemical collisions which were inevitable in his early New 
England travels. He has been esteemed, throughout his long 
ministry, for sound judgment, equanimity and blandness of 
manners, good pulpit talents, and integrity as a Disciplinarian. 
As he still lives, it is not yet time to speak more fully of his 
excellences ; it may be remarked, however, that he has stood 
before the church a worthy example of that noble Itinerant broth- 
erhood which composed our Conferences a half-century ago, 
and which included so many sainted men. Like most of them, 
he preached and early sought the grace of entire sanctification. 



128 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

His testimony on the subject is too interesting to be omitted. 
" When I commenced the work of the ministry, I fully believed 
in every point of Methodist doctrine contained in the articles of 
our church. I endeavored to preach every part of Methodism, 
and designed to conform my life to the doctrine I preached. As 
respects the great doctrine of Christian perfection^ I preached it 
by stating the doctrine, proving it by the Scriptures, and obviat- 
ing the objections brought against it by other denominations. 
This I did theoretically, without the experience of the work of 
sanctification in my own breast, and without the enjoyment of 
the inestimable benefits flowing from such an experience. I 
often desired it, and ardently prayed for it. I frequently felt 
my own soul to be stirred up and quickened while preaching it, 
and had various evidences that God rendered it a blessing to 
others. When going to the Lynn Conference, in 1805, I 
attended a Quarterly Meeting in Tolland, and preached on the 
subject of holiness, and there was the shout of a king in the 
camp of Israel ; and the next year I went to a camp-meeting at 
Square Pond, and as I entered the grove an aged man met me 
and accosted me very familiarly. I looked at him, but could not 
recognize him. He said, ' You do not know me ; but I know 
you, and I know that you preached the word of God into my 
soul last June, in Hervey Howard's orchard, and it remains 
there yet.' I recollect, when on Granville circuit, there was a 
place w^here we had preached several months without any visible 
effect ; I preached a sermon on sanctification, and a number of 
souls were awakened. But when I came to New London cir- 
cuit, I felt the importance of being more fully devoted to God, 
and earnestly prayed l« him for a clean heart. The second time 
that I preached in New London, I spoke in the morning on 
' Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of 
that man is peace.' During the intermission, as I was walking 
the floor, in a room by myself, I was contemplating on this wise : 
I verily believe the doctrine I have preached this morning. 1 
have no doubt but it is the Christian's privilege to experience 
and enjoy all the holiness for which I have contended ; and why 
am I living so far beneath my privilege ? There were a numher 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 129 

of books lying on a table, and, as I passed by them, I rather inad- 
vertently took up one and opened it, and the first words that 
caught my eye were in substance as follows : ' Thus it plainly 
appears that the great reason why we are not more holy is 
because we have never, in heart, intended it.' — (Law's Serious 
Call to a Holy Life.) I paused, and then inquired. Is it so ? In 
all my desires for it, and my prayers and tears that I might 
experience it, have I been hypocritical, and never yet intended to 
be holy in heart and in life ? I continued to read, and soon 
became convinced that, with all my desires for the blessing, I had 
never intended to have it at the expense of all things. I clearly 
saw, that if I would have that pearl, I must sell all that I had in 
order to purchase it. I fell on my knees before the Lord, and 
asked for light to direct my course, and the Spirit to help my 
infirmities; and there covenanted with God, that, by his grace 
assisting me, I would never give up the strife till I as fully knew 
Christ to be my sanctification as I ever knew him to be my justi- 
fication. From that time I felt as deep conviction of the neces- 
sity of perfect love, as I ever did of the necessity of the pardon of 
my sins. On the evening of the third day, while wrestling with 
God in secret, I thought there was nothing of an earthly nature 
which I could not freely sacrifice for Christ; and I was enabled to 
say, by faith, Here, Lord, I give myself away, soul, body, and 
spirit, with all my powers and passions, and all I have, to be at 
thy disposal ; henceforth, I repose my trust in thee for wisdom and 
righteousness, for joy and peace, for life and death. That moment 
Christ revealed himself to me the second time unto full salvation. 
The change I then experienced was as great as that of my first 
conversion, and far more glorious ; I felt that I not only loved 
God more than anything else, but more than all things else com- 
bined. Though this was thirty-six years ago, I have never 
wholly lost the witness I then received. My enjoyments have 
not been always alike, but there has not been a day in which I 
have not felt the inward witness of perfect love. I have tried 
and proved the excellence of religion about forty-four years. I 
have found it good under all the circumstances and conditions 
through which I have been called to pass. In sickness, it has 



130 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

been my support ; in affliction, my comfort and consolation ; in 
seasons of persecution and temptation, my hiding-place and 
never-failing defence ; in scenes of poverty, a rich treasure, far 
more precious than that of gold or silver. I am now turned of 
seventy years of age, and I" never felt more in love with, or more 
closely united to, the church, to whom, under God, I owe all I 
am and all I hope to be, than at the present time. Neither did 
I ever feel more willing to labor, suffer, and sacrifice, to promote 
its interests." 

As the author of these pages wandered in Texas for health 
during a winter, some years ago, he was led by a Christian 
brother out upon a bluff, which overlooked the noble Brazos, far 
up in the interior of the country, and, at that time, almost within 
reach of the incursions of the savages. A grave was pointed out 
to him upon its summit; it was unhonored by any monument, but 
it contained all that was mortal of Martin Ruter, — a name 
which appears this year for the first time in our ministerial 
records. After laboring with distinguished success through New 
England and other parts of the Union, he had resigned the 
presidency of a college, that he might devote himself as a mis- 
sionary to the new field of moral labor which the young repub- 
lic of Texas had opened ; and he had fallen with the honors of a 
martyr to his devotion. 

Martin Ruter was born in Sutton, Mass., in April, 1785 ; in 
1793, his father. Job Ruter, moved to Bradford, Vt. " In 1797," 
writes one of his early associates, " the Itinerant Methodist min- 
isters were introduced into this section of our country, by the 
solicitations and persevering efforts of the late Rev. John Lang- 
don, who died a few years since, near Cincinnati, Ohio ; and, in 
1798, Brother Job Ruter, having moved into Corinth, opened his 
house for preaching, and received Methodist preachers to his 
humble but hospitable home. Although he and his wife had 
been members of the Baptist church several years, they united 
with the first Methodist Class formed in their neighborhood, and 
remained members of the Methodist Episcopal church until 
called to their eternal reward. Being myself among the first 
fruits of Methodism in these parts, I often attended meeting at 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 131 

their house, a distance of seven miles, and took much satisfac- 
tion in their society, and profited by their Christian conversation 
and deep experience in the things of God. The recollections of 
those seasons of Christian simplicity, humble piety, fervent char- 
ity, and undissembled friendship, will remain with me while 
memory lasts. Some time in the summer of 1799, Martin 
became a subject of the justifying grace of God, through faith in 
Christ, and joined the Class that met in his father's house. 
There was nothing remarkable in his first experience ; he was 
diffident and retiring, but with his accustomed modesty there 
was a stability and gravity which was uncommon for his age, as 
he was only in his fifteenth year. The winter following, he 
returned to Bradford to attend school, in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of my father's residence, and took board with Mrs, 
Peckett, an English lady, whose maiden name was Margaret 
Appleton, and who was housekeeper for Rev. John Wesley. I 
mention this circumstance, because it afforded me an opportu- 
nity of becoming more intimately acquainted with his Christian 
experience and studious habit ; and I also consider it of singular 
use to him, as it had been to me, to be favored with the counsel 
and instruction of this excellent woman and mother in Israel. 
We were not only advised and encouraged in our religious expe- 
rience and duty, but we learned from her the peculiar forms and 
usages, not only of early Methodism, but of the founder of 
Methodism. In the spring and summer of 1800, I commenced 
holding public meetings for exhortation and prayer ; and as they 
had no Sabbath preaching in Bro. Ruter's neighborhood, I often 
met with them, to assist in the public exercises, such as they 
were. I found Martin laboring under the same conviction of 
duty to devote himself to God, and the ministry of his Word, 
that I had myself felt for many months, and we opened our 
minds freely to each other ; but the greatness of the work, the 
fearfulness of the responsibility, and our insufficiency for the 
undertaking, would so overwhelm our feelings, that we could 
only view the subject in the perspective, as an object at a great 
distance, which we looked at with mingled emotions of desire 
and hope, accompanied with fear and trembling. About the first 



132 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of September, the Quarterly Meeting for our circuit was held in 
Vershire. Rev. John Brodhead was the Presiding Elder. It 
was a time of considerable religious excitement, and the people 
came together from a great distance. The assembly was large, 
and we had no house that -could contain the multitude. It was, 
therefore, determined to have preaching in a grove of lofty maples, 
that was near at hand. During the Love Feast and Sacrament, 
which were held in a private dwelling, the people thronged about 
the house by hundreds. When these services were about to con- 
clude, Martin stood at a window, and addressed an exhortation to 
those without. His soul seemed fired with an affectionate and 
holy zeal for the conversion of the people ; his language flowed 
with a manly eloquence. The multitude without wept, and there 
was a great shout within, while all marvelled to hear such words 
from a youth of fifteen years. The public meeting commenced 
in the grove, between ten and eleven o'clock. Two sermons 
were preached, with very little intermission, except the time that 
was occupied by singing and prayer. The second sermon was 
from these words, ' Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping: 
and what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch.' The Elder 
showed the insensibility, thoughtless security and supineness, of 
unregenerate men, and exhorted them to wake up to their eter- 
nal interests. He then presented to their view the danger and 
wretchedness of being found sleeping, in that awful hour, when 
summoned to the bar of God; here he dwelt on the terrific 
scenes of Christ's second advent and the final judgment, until 
imagination could almost hear the thunders of the last trumpet, 
and see the vault of heaven rolled up and passing away. There 
was an awful solemnity on the entire congregation, and the still- 
ness of midnight prevailed, with no other interruption than the 
preacher's voice, and occasionally the half-stifled sighs of heart- 
stricken sinners, as they sank dowm upon the ground, or clung to 
some tree to keep them from falling. Before he concluded, there 
were some thirty or fifty persons lying on the ground, like men 
slain in battle. Saint and sinner were constrained to acknowl- 
edge the presence of God, and the power of his Gospel. Many 
were awakened, some converted, and believers were filled with 



NOTICES OF PREACHERS, CONTINUED. 133 

joy and wonder, at the gracious displays of the Divine Spirit 
that accompanied that Gospel which is the power of God unto 
salvation. At the conclusion of the meeting, while the people 
were retiring, Mr. Brodhead came to Martin, and threw his arms 
around him and said, 'Martin, I want you to go with me ; ' to 
which he replied, with childlike simplicity, ' If my father will let 
me, I will go.' On going into the house, the Elder wTnt to Mr. 
Ruter, saying, ' You must let Martin go with me ; ' to which he 
objected, on account of his being too young. ' But,' said the 
Elder, ' he has got the broad-axe, and he must go and hew down 
the forest.' The father made many other objections, which the 
Elder obviated, until the old gentleman consented, and agreed 
to fit him out for the journey in two weeks. Mr. B. returned to 
Martin, and informed him that his father had given his consent, 
and he must be ready in two weeks to go with him around the 
district. The young man was taken with surprise, and the 
thought rushed into his mind, He will set me to preaching, and 
I am not sure that God has called me to the work; and it will 
be a terrible thing for me to run before I am sent. He was 
greatly affected, and so distressed that he retired into secret, 
and, with his Bible in his hand, he fell upon his knees and 
struggled in prayer for direction ; then opened his Bible, and the 
first sentence that struck his eye was this, ' The Master is come and 
calleth for thee.'' These words were accompanied with such an 
evidence of his call to the work of the ministry, that, with a flood 
of tears, he answered, ' I will go.' When his mother learned the 
arrangement, she seemed irreconcilable, and went to the Presid- 
ing Elder, and asked, with much earnestness, ' What are you 
doing ? How can you think of setting that child to preaching ? 
It cannot, it must not be : he is but a child, and it will be his 
ruin.' Bro. Brodhead heard her, and, with his accustomed good- 
humor, said, ' Sister, hold your peace ; the Lord hath need of 
him, and he must go.' Seeing she could gain nothing by her 
remonstrance, she left him and betook herself to her closet. 
With agonized feelings, she opened the Bible, and the words she 
first read were, ^Loose him and let him go.' Her spirit suddenly 
became tranquil, and she was enabled to say, ' Lord, he is thine ; 
12 



134 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

and I give him to thee, and the work to which thou hast called 
him.'"=^ 

Thus began the long and successful Itinerant ministry of Mar- 
tin Ruter. He travelled a short time with Brodhead on the 
district, exciting everywhere unwonted interest, by his rare tal- 
ents, as well as by his youth. He was subsequently sent to 
Wethersfield circuit, Vt., until the ensuing Conference. This 
circuit was a new one, formed in the east part of the state ; it 
extended from the west bank of the Connecticut to the foot of 
the Green Mountains, and was at this time enlarged, from a two 
to a four weeks' tour, so that it afforded him a thorough intro- 
duction to the fatigues and privations of the Itinerancy. 

He was received on trial at the New York Conference of 
1801, being then only about sixteen years of age — the youngest 
man ever admitted to an American Conference, except the Rev. 
George Gary, who was received into the New England Confer- 
ence when a few months younger, and, like Ruter, vindicated, 
by a devoted and useful life, the prudence of the step under the 
peculiar circumstances of the times. His appointments for the 
ensuing three years were, respectively, Chesterfield (N. H.), 
with Abner Wood ; Landaff (N. H.), with Phineas Peck, and 
Adams (Mass.). In 1804 he volunteered as a missionary to 
Canada, was appointed to Montreal, and labored with much 
acceptance and usefulness. The next year he returned to 
the States, and was sent to Bridgewater, N. H. He was 
subsequently appointed to Northfield, N. H. ; Boston, with 
Daniel Webb ; New Hampshire district for two years ; Port- 
land, Me. ; in 1812, he located, but in 1814 reappears again in 
the Minutes, as sent to North Yarmouth, Me., where he had 
resided during his location ; the next two years he labored at 
Salisbury, Mass., and Philadelphia, Penn. After spending two 
years in Philadelphia with much popularity and usefulness, he 
was recalled to New England, to take charge of the Methodist 
Academy at New Market, N. H. The next year he was 
appointed to Portsmouth, N. H., but, by an arrangement with his 
Presiding Elder, remained in charge of the seminary. The 
General Conference of 1820 founded the Western Book Con- 

\ * Rev. Laban Clark lo the author. - 



CONTINUED. 135 

cern, and designated him to the charge of it ; he was reappoint- 
ed to the same responsible position in 1824 ; and at the expiration 
of his remaining term of service, having been in the office eight 
years, he accepted the presidency of Augusta College, Ky. He 
held this post four years, and was then transferred to Pittsburg 
Conference, and stationed in Pittsburg, Pa., during two years. In 
1835 he accepted the presidency of Alleghany College, Penn., 
which he had been chiefly instrumental in founding. 

The evangelic zeal which had thus far glowed like a flame in 
his heart kindled still more intensely at the prospects of mis- 
sionary enterprise and success which were now opened in 
Texas. Though in a position of great usefulness and dignity, 
he resigned his presidency, after successfully filling it for about 
three years, and started, in 1837, with two or three young com- 
panions, for the distant prairies of the new republic. His labors 
there were gigantic. He traversed the country, forming 
societies, projecting circuits, and preaching continually. He 
also founded a literary institution at Rutersville, a town that 
now commemorates his name and worth. 

His indefatigable exertions, and frequent exposures in an un- 
tried climate, brought upon him severe sickness, under which his 
robust health gave way, and he expired at Washington, Texas, 
May 16th, 1838, in great peace, and " unshaken confidence in 
God.'"^ His death produced a sensation of deep sorrow 
throughout the church, to all portions of which his long and 
devoted labors and eminent qualities had endeared him. The 
New England Conference, within whose bounds his name was 
as ointment poured forth, was in session at Boston when the 
sad intelligence arrived. It was announced first from the pulpits 
on Sunday morning, and was noticed by Drs. Fisk and Bascom 
in their discourses during the day, amidst the profound emotions 
of the people, many of whom had sat under his ministry. 

Dr. Ruter was self-educated, but acquired a good acquaint- 
ance with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, the Mathematics, 
History, and other branches of knowledge. He was honored 
spontaneously with the titles of A. M. and D. D. He was an 
assiduous student while pursuing the fatiguing routes of his 

* Minutes, 1833. 



136 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Itinerant ministry, and is, like Adam Clark, an example of the 
success with which even elaborate studies may be sustained under 
the inconveniencies of such a life. In person he was substan- 
tially formed, and dignified in his manners. He had the 
affability of the Christian gentleman ; his voice was unusually 
melodious, and his love of music strong. In the pulpit he was 
grave, pathetic, and often commandingly eloquent. He lived in 
habitual communion with God; and his piety, ever reverential, and 
yet cheerful, gave the charm of a pure Christian cordiality to his 
whole character. One of his early companions, who knew him 
well,=^ says, — " He was not spoiled by universal applause. He 
had attended a common school at Corinth, Yermont, such as they 
then were, only kept a few months in the year ; but his soul 
thirsted for knowledge, and he improved every moment in getting 
or doing good. He appeared to consecrate all his time, talents, 
knowledge, and influence, to the glory of God, and the benefit 
of the world. Who can tell how much his godly mother helped 
him by her prayers ! Truly a mother in Israel ! and this but 
coldly speaks her praise. She lived within speaking distance 
of Paradise, and kept up a constant communication. Her les- 
sons of instruction to me, more than forty-five years ago, have 
been doing me good ever since. Her faith was mighty, when 
she had fast hold of a promise, and often was their consecrated 
dwelling filled with the Divine glory. Who that knew her son, 
of many prayers, from the time he began to preach, or during 
his ministry, until May 16th, 1838, when he was taken triumph- 
antly from Texas to heaven, but would say, by the grace of 
God he was an extraordinary man ? " 

Devotedly useful as his life had been, his death — a noble self- 
sacrifice in the interior of a wilderness country, far from his fam- 
ily, and accompanied by severe but patient suffering — was hardly 
less so. It made a general and an affecting appeal to the heart 
of the church, in behalf of the missionary cause ; and many a 
youth, with like literary aspirations and hopes, has felt that in 
this instance of the martyr-like devotion of an intellectual and 
distinguished man to missionary labor was presented an exam- 
ple for himself full of heroic nobleness. 

*Rev. Asa Kent. 



CHAPTER XII. 

fuhther biographical notices. 

Laban Clark. — Introduction of Methodism into Termont. — John Langdon. — Calvinism. — 
Christian Experience. — Evangelical Excursions. — Anecdotes. — Landaff Circuit. — Brod- 
head. — Prosperity in Vermont. — The New York Conference at the Beginning of the 
Century. — Fletcher Circuit. — Privations. — Appointments. — Characteristics. — Oliver 
Beale. — His Appointments. — Character. 

Laban Clark, who joined the Itinerant ranks the present 
year, still survives, and sustains an effective relation to the min- 
istry. He was born in Haverhill, N. H., July 19, 1778; but in 
his infancy his family removed to Bradford, Vt., and here Mr. 
Clark's childhood was spent under the hardy training of a new 
country, and the strict religious discipline of New England, He 
early manifested unusual mental and moral susceptibilities, and 
was particularly interested in the conversation of Mrs. Peckett, 
the English Wesleyan lady already referred to — a lady whose 
influence was of no little importance in the introduction of 
Methodism into Vermont. With Mr. Clark's early life were 
associated the first historical events of our cause in that state, 
and we are indebted to him for the following information respect- 
ing some of them.^ 

In 1796, Mr. Nicholas Sneathen was appointed to Vershire, in 
Vermont, as we have seen in our preceding volume. He was 
the first Methodist preacher who visited that part of New Eng- 
land. This appointment was made at the earnest request of 
Mr. John Langdon, a native of South Wilbraham, Mass., who 
settled in Vershire when the country was new. Being of a 
thoughtful turn of mind, and fond of reading, he became dissatis- 
fied with the doctrines which had been taught him from his youth. 
The tenet of fore-ordination was to him a stumbling-block, and 
totally at variance with the New Testament. After many fruit- 

* Communication to the author. 

12^ 



138 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM 

less efforts to find a people with whom he could agree in opinion 
and unite in fellowship, he gave up the search in despair. 

As he entered his house one day, his wife informed him that 
she had received a letter from her father (Dea. Ashley, of 
Springfield), and that he had sent them a book. John answered, 
" I am glad to have a letter from him ; but I don' t want his 
book, for I suppose it contains his Calvinism." — '• No, I think 
not," she replied ; " he writes something I do not understand," 
and handed him the letter. John read the letter, and then took 
up the book and read till interrupted by tears of joy. He said, 
" This man writes just as I have believed." He then turned 
again to the letter, which stated that a new sect of preachers had 
visited them, called Methodists ; that they went out two and two 
like the apostles, travelled circuits, and preached free salvation 
to all men. Taking up the book, he read again ; and after read- 
ing a while, he sprang upon his feet and exclaimed, " If there is 
such a people under heaven, I will find them! " 

Shortly after, he received information that there was to be a 
great meeting of the Methodists in Tolland, Connecticut, called 
a Quarterly Meeting. Although he had but four days! notice, 
and the distance was nearly two hundred miles, he set off, and 
arrived on Saturday, just after the meeting had closed for the 
afternoon ; but learning that there was to be preaching in the 
evening, he put up for the night. At the time appointed, he 
repaired to the meeting, which was in a private house, and took 
his seat in the congregation. After waiting a little while, a 
plain man stepped in, with his hymn-book in his hand. A short 
pause ensued, when the preacher gave out the hymn, 

"0, that I could repent ! 
0, that I could beliere ! 
Thou with thy voice the marble rent, — 
The rocks in sunder cleaye." 

This was the very language of his own heart, and he thought 
he never heard such a hymn before. After singing, the preacher 
kneeled down and prayed. The prayer was as extraordinary as 
the hymn ; and John, having understood that the Methodists had 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 139 

bishops, concluded this must certainly be the bishop, for no com- 
mon man could make such a prayer. He was, however, a young 
man, who had just been licensed to preach. The sermon was 
equally satisfactory to him ; and when the meeting was ended, he 
stepped forward and introduced himself to the preachers, inform- 
ing them how far he had come, and for what purpose. He wished 
to learn their doctrine and form of discipline. The preachers 
received him kindly, and were ready to answer all his inquiries, 
and invited him to attend their Love Feast the next morning. 
That Sabbath was to him as the beginning of days ; he had 
found a people with whom he could unite in doctrine, and who 
he believed to be the people of God. Before he left, he obtained 
a promise that a preacher should be sent to Vermont. Accord- 
ingly, Joshua Hall was appointed in 1794, but did not go. Mr. 
Langdon went home, with a full purpose to seek the vital 
religion of which he had heard. He was satisfied, not only 
that salvation was free for all, but that it was the privilege of all 
to know their sins forgiven ; and he sought by earnest prayer, 
and shortly experienced, the blessing of peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. He waited, with longing desire and 
fond expectations, for the preacher to come, but none arrived that 
year. He wrote and urged the Macedonian cry, " come over and 
help us ;" and continued praying for the coming of the heralds 
of free salvation, but not until the Fall of 1796 was another 
preacher appointed. 

Mr. Langdon, who was an excellent citizen, and a magistrate, 
became a useful local preacher, and aided extensively in the 
outspread of the new denomination in the state, laboring 
energetically and suffering much for it.^ The next year after 
Mr. Sneathen's arrival, Mr. Clark heard a Methodist preacher 
for the first time at the house of Mrs. Peckett, which had become 
both the home and the chapel of the Itinerants. He was deeply 
impressed by the truths and spirit of the discourse. "About 
a year after," he writes, " another preacher came into the 
place, and was to preach in a school-house. I was from home ; 

*See Mem. of the Int. of Methodism, chap, xxxi., for an interesting incident in 
his early Methodist labors. 



140 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

but hearing of the meeting, I started for home, and arrived at the 
school-house just as he closed his sermon. I heard him sing a 
hymn, and make his concluding prayer, which served to deepen 
my regret that I had missed the opportunity of hearing the ser- 
mon ; for I verily believed there was something great and good 
to be learned from these men, and perhaps I might never have 
an opportunity again of hearing them ; for I still supposed they 
came from England, and would not remain long in the country. 
A few weeks after, I was informed that Mr. Williston, the 
Methodist preacher, was to preach his farewell sermon the next 
Sabbath at Mr. Langdon's, in Vershire. The distance being 
about fifteen miles, I set out about sunrise, and got to the place 
some time before meeting commenced. The preaching was to 
be in a barn ; the day was pleasant, and seats were prepared 
in and out of the barn. I saw where they had prepared for 
the preacher to stand, and took ray position where I might see 
and hear to the best advantage. Under the first prayer, an 
arrow seemed directed singly to my heart, and I felt that I was 
the very person he was praying for, and that I was the sinner 
w^ho needed prayers. I there and then resolved that I would 
try to be a better man. I saw people, men and women, in the 
barn and out of it, on their knees in time of prayer, and said to 
myself. This is the old Bible way ; and my heart was drawn to 
these people so strongly, that when the second hymn was given 
out, I arose with them, and joined heartily in singing. What I 
saw and heard through the day met ray entire approbation, and 
I went home with a fixed determination to live a new life. But 
how and where to begin I knew not. I was in perfect darkness : 
my sins began more than ever to stare me in the face ; my own 
responsibility was the only thing that seemed clear to my view, 
but this was in direct opposition to the doctrine of moral neces- 
sity, behind which I had been accustomed to screen myself and 
lull my conscience — the effect of a well-meant but wrong 
education. I was led to review the whole subject, and settled it 
in my own mind that all speculations must give place to this 
one truth, ' that every man must give an account of himself to 
God, and receive according to that he hath done, whether it be 
good or evil.' " 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 141 

Nearly all the early converts of Methodism in New England 
had a similar struggle with the errors of their religious educa- 
tion. Mr. Clark continues, — " For more than three months I 
remained in a state of darkness, and, like a blind man, was trying 
to feel my way, and yet knew not which way to direct my steps. 
My business led me a good deal into company, but I was no com^ 
panion for old or young, saint or sinner. The doctrine of pre- 
destination became so offensive that, to the grief of my father, I 
refused to go to church where it was preached, and he accused 
me of turning heathen. The latter part of November, I was 
informed that a young preacher had come to Mrs. Peckett's, 
and would preach that afternoon. I left my work, and went to 
hear him ; his text was, ' Come, for all things are now ready.' 
He dwelt upon the ample provision in the atonement ; the 
liberty of all to come ; the manner of coming by faith ; that the 
sinner was to come because he was a sinner, and not tarry to 
make himself better ; and, in conclusion, sung the hymn, ' Come 
ye sinners, poor and needy,' &c. Here the first light was shed 
upon my mind, and this was the first consistent viev/ that pre- 
sented itself to my understanding of a sinner's coming to Christ. 
It was several weeks before I had an opportunity of hearing him 
again. When the preacher, J. Crawford, returned, he came to 
visit my father's family. They collected together ; the Itiner- 
ant gave an exhortation and prayed, and in taking leave he took 
each person by the hand, and addressed a few words to him 
individually. When he came to me, I was so affected that I 
could not refrain from weeping. He held on to my hand, exhort- 
ing me to receive Christ by faith, ancJ, lifting up his voice, he 
prayed earnestly for the Lord to bless me. Of a sudden my 
burden was gone, my tears ceased to flow, and I felt a perfect 
calmness. I was unable to account for the change : I walked 
to the barn ; wondered at myself, for my mind was as easy and 
free as if I had never had a thought that troubled me. The 
path of duty appeared plainer than I had ever seen it before, 
and my purpose was stronger to pursue it. I was sensible that 
I had gained some victory over myself and sin ; but what to call 
it I knew not; but it occurred to my mind that it was writ- 



142, MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ten, ' Then shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord,' 
and I was greatly encouraged. About four weeks after, the 
preacher proposed to hold a Class meeting to converse with 
those who were seriously disposed ; a number stayed, and 
before the meeting closed I felt to say, 1 can, I do believe ! — 
I felt a happiness that I never felt before, and God gave me the 
w^itness of my acceptance with Him. At this time a Class was 
formed, and I gave myself to God and to his church. Our 
numbers increased gradually, and we enjoyed precious seasons in 
our little society, though not Avithout opposition. I felt it my 
duty to converse with my young associates, and many became 
serious, and were anxious to hear." 

In 1799 Joseph Crawford was returned to Vershire circuit, 
with Elijah Chichester. The circuit embraced a large extent of 
country, including Orange and Windsor Counties, and societies 
were formed in most of the towns between the river and the 
Green Mountain ridge. Many converts from the different 
towns came together at the Quarterly Meetings which were 
held for that year in Vershire, Bradford, Barre, and West Thed- 
ford. Feeling a deep interest in the church, Mr. Clark became 
acquainted with many of those who embraced Methodism, 
especially with the Langdon families. John Langdon was looked 
up to as a leader and father among the societies, and was the 
first licensed local preacher in the east part of Vermont. " I 
became strongly attached to him," writes Mr. Clark ; " he acted 
the part of a friend to me, and we enjoyed seasons of religious 
comfort together." 

Thus was young Clark introduced experimentally to a knowl- 
edge of the Gospel as expounded by Methodism. He soon after, 
quite unexpectedly and providentially, began to speak in pub- 
lic, and thus entered upon his long and useful career as a 
preacher of righteousness. On a visit, in 1800, to Wentworth, 
N. H., he was requested to meet a few friends in the evening 
and give them an account of his new views. He found a large 
assembly present ; he introduced the interview with singing and 
prayer, and then delivered an address, in which he was, as he 
believed, divinely assisted. The clergyman of the village was 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 143 

present, and disputed his opinions, but, as the people thought, 
with visible disadvantage ; for the young Methodist had read 
thoroughly Mrs. Peckett's Wesleyan books, and had become an 
adept in the logic of Wesley and Fletcher. 

Soon after, he accompanied John Langdon, then a local 
preacher, and Rosebrook Crawford, an exhorter, on one of those 
evangelical excursions which were common among the zealous 
Methodists of that day. They passed through a number of towns, 
preaching, exhorting, and praying, and were successful in found- 
ing several of our present flourishing societies. In LandafF they 
had two appointments. " We arrived at the first," he writes, 
"at two o'clock, in good time, and Bro. L. preached to a very 
attentive congregation. We then rode several miles further for 
the evening, where we met a large congregation, to whom Bro. 
L. preached in the demonstration of the spirit, and the people 
were greatly moved; he called on me to follow with exhortation, 
which I did. Many were weeping, and we could not close the 
meeting till near midnight; numbers appeared to be truly 
awaked; some cried aloud for mercy, and a few rejoiced in 
the Lord. The next day we set off for Lunenburg ; visited 
several families on our way, in Landaff, Lisbon, and Littleton, 
and arrived at our place of destination about sun-down. It 
being Saturday night, w^e circulated the appointment for the 
Sabbath, and had only a family prayer-meeting for that evening. 
Our meeting for the Sabbath was at ' Father Braden's,' — an old 
Irish Methodist. Langdon preached morning and afternoon, 
and I followed with exhortation. At the conclusion it was 
proposed to have a Class meeting, and all who were serious were 
invited to stay. The presence and power of the Lord were 
manifested, and five experienced the pardon of their sins, and 
rejoiced in God their Saviour. There were Mrs. Webb, her son 
Theodore, the two daughters of Father Braden, and the 
youngest daughter of Mr. Gustin, at whose house we had put 
up the night before. I accompanied Mrs. Webb to her house, for, 
knowing the feelings of Colonel Webb, I expected she would 
meet with opposition, and so I found it ; but his wrath moder- 
ated, as he said, for the respect he had for my father. Here I 



144 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

met their son Ashbel, who married a cousin of mine, that was 
brought up in my father's family. He also looked dissatisfied, 
and somewhat confused at meeting me ; for he had not been at 
the meeting, nor did he know that I was in the place. I told 
him that I calculated to go to his house and stay that night. 
He could not refuse me ; but I saw plainly he did not wish me 
to come. However, I took my horse after tea, and rode to his 
house. They received me hospitablj'-, but coolly. I soon found he 
had prepared for disputation, for I observed his Bible lying on 
the table, with many leaves turned down. We commenced 
our conversation, and he brought up many objections against the 
Methodists and their doctrine. The next morning, as soon as 
light appeared, I arose, and he hearing me, got up and expressed 
a fear that I had not slept comfortably. I assured him that I 
had ; but as the birds were beginning to praise God, I must praise 
him too. I saw that his heart was touched." 

Ashbel, confounded in argument and relenting in heart, 
harnessed his horse, and carried the young Methodist to a 
staunch Calvinistic cousin, by the name of Savage, where the 
discussion was resumed. It concluded with prayer, after which 
" I informed them," says Mr. Clark, " that Mr. Langdon was 
to preach that night in Lancaster, and wished them to go and 
hear him. In the evening, both Webb and Savage, with their 
wives, were at the meeting, and many others. Mr. L. preached, 
I exhorted, and we kept up our meeting with singing and 
praying for some time, and the two men that I had brought with 
me, with their wives, were all four converted, and went home 
praising the Lord. We were now able to form a Class of 
between fifteen and twenty ; the most of them remained stead- 
fast in the Lord, and my friends, Webb and Savage, both became 
local preachers." 

They passed another part of Lancaster, where a great agita- 
tion ensued. They were assailed by the mob. The ruffian 
rabble cowered before the courage of Langdon, who was a gigan- 
tic and brave man ; but they carried off Rosebrook Crawford, 
and ducked him in the river, with shouts.^ 

*See an account of this affair in Mem. of Int. of Methodism, Chap. xxxr. 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 146 

The excursion had been successful, and resulted in the forma- 
tion of the old Landaff circuit of notable memory. The preacher 
in charge, on hearing of the results of the tour of Langdon and 
his companions, visited the same places, organized them into a 
distinct department of labor, and reported from them more than 
fifty members, at the next New York Conference. We have 
been the more particular in these details, as they illustrate not 
merely Mr. Clark's early religious life, but the primitive history 
of Methodism in Vermont — the data of which are fast passing- 
into oblivion, and cannot be too carefully rescued. 

From the Conference of 1800, Brodhead was appointed to 
New London district, which now extended from the seaboard to 
the Canada line. Timothy Dewey was sent to Vershire, John 
Nichols to Wethersfield, and Elijah R. Sabin to Landaff circuits. 
The preachers were late in getting to their circuits, and the Pre- 
siding Elder visited Vermont before either of the three arrived. 
Brodhead went immediately to Landaff, spent two or three 
weeks, preaching almost daily, and held his first Quarterly 
Meeting in that town. 

Mr. Clark enjoyed much this occasion, and his conversations 
with the Elder tended to deepen the impression of his duty to 
preach the Gospel. Soon afterwards, he accompanied young 
Martin Ruter to the Vershire Quarterly Meeting. " We had," 
says Mr. Clark, " opened our feelings to each other on the subject 
of entering the ministry, and at this meeting the Presiding 
Elder preached, on Saturday, on the call, qualification, and duty 
of the Christian minister. The subject was applicable to our 
feelings ; we were affected to tears, and our convictions of duty 
were confirmed. The Sabbath was a day of power. In the 
Love Feast, and in the public congregation, Mr. B. preached 
with Apostolic unction. I looked at him with reverence, and 
said to myself, This man speaks as one having authority, and 
not as the Scribes. Before he concluded, there were scores of 
persons lying upon the ground, as if slain in battle." 

It was at this meeting that Brodhead pressed Ruter into the 
Itinerant service, as we have seen. A few months later, Clark 
was called out also, and, after accompanying the' Elder some 
13 



146 MEMORIALS OP METHODISM. 

weeks, was sent to assist the preachers of the circuits, especially 
those of LandafF and Vershire, where he met with a good recep- 
tion, and had much success. 

About the first of June, he started on horse-hack for the New 
York Conference, a ride of 340 miles. Such had been the pros- 
perity of these northern circuits, that they reported to the Con- 
ference from Vershire, 354 members ; LandafT, 192 ; Wethers- 
field, 234 ; Hanover, 58 ; making an increase of 451. The 
three two-weeks' circuits of the last year were returned for 
four-weeks' circuits, and two new ones were added, viz. : Han- 
over for two preachers, and Barnard for one. In all there 
were now nine preachers, where there were but three the year 
before. The territory of the New York Conference, east of the 
North river, extended from Long Island to Canada ; taking in all 
the State of Connecticut, so much of Massachusetts as lay west 
of Worcester, so much of New Hampshire as lay west of the 
Merrimac river, all of Vermont, and reaching into Lower 
Canada ; six preachers were sent into Upper Canada. The 
whole number of preachers to supply this field was 58, and the 
whole number of members was 7401 ; giving an increase of 
1109 members, and 16 preachers, in one year. 

Mr. Clark was received on probation, at this session, and 
appointed to Fletcher circuit, Vt., with James Coleman. He 
had now fully entered the Itinerant ranks, and immediately 
learned the privations, as well as the labors, of the Methodist 
ministry. " My circuit," he says, " was divided in two parts, 
nearly like a figure 8, containing two weeks' appointments in 
each, and bringing us together every two weeks — the whole dis- 
tance about 400 miles ; including all that part of Vermont north 
of the Onion river, and in Lower Canada, from Sutton to Mis- 
sisque Bay, and around the bay to Alsbury and Isle la Motte ; 
embracing about forty appointments for four weeks.'' 

After travelling nine months, he says, " I received three dol- 
lars only, and that to repair my boots. My spending money 
was exhausted, and I had borrowed five dollars of Mr. Coleman. 
At the Quarterly Conference, the question came up, how the 
money was to be divided. I told them that Mr. Draper, who 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 147 

had been sent to the east after the Conference, had a family, and 
he must have his share. The Elder then asked me for my 
travelling expenses ; I told him I had none, for I had but just 
entered upon regular work ; he smiled, and told the steward to 
give me one dollar to pay for shoeing my horse, and for quarterage 
they paid me seven dollars, so that I had enough to pay what 
I had borrowed, and a little to spare." 

Such privations, however, appeared only to give a deeper 
romance to the life of the Itinerant evangelists ; they had 
devoted themselves as willing sacrifices for the souls of men, and 
were only inspirited by their trials. 

Mr. Clark's subsequent appointments form a numerous and 
striking list. They were, in 1802, Plattsburgh, N. Y. ; 1803, 
missionary in Lower Canada ; 1804, Adams, Mass. ; 1805, Leb- 
anon, N. Y.; 1806, Whittingham, Mass.; 1807, Buckland, 
Mass. ; 1808, Granville, Mass. ; 1809 and 1810, Litchfield, Ct.; 
1811, New York city, with Nathan Bangs, P. P. Sandford, 
Joseph Crawford, and others ; 1813 and 1814, Troy, N. Y. ; 
1815, Pittstown, N. Y. ; 1816 and 1817, Schenectady, N. Y.j 
1818, New York city again, with Seth Crowell, Thomas Thorp, 
Aaron Hunt, B. Hibbard, S. Merwin, and other New England 
laborers; 1820 and 1821, Redding, Conn.; 1822 and 1823, 
Stratford, Conn. ; 1824, New York district, on which he con- 
tinued four years ; 1828, he took charge of the New Haven dis- 
trict, and superintended it during the ensuing four years ; 1832, 
agent for the Wesleyan University, Conn. ; 1833 and 1834, New 
York city; in 1835, he was returned on the supernumerary list, 
but the next year he resumed active service, and was appointed 
to the Hartford district, which he travelled till 1841, when he 
was sent to Wethersfield, Conn. The following year he was 
again on the supernumerary list, and resided at Middletown, 
Conn. In 1843, he took an appointment, and labored at Step- 
ney and Weston, Conn. The following four years, he superin- 
tended the New Haven district. In 1848 he was appointed to 
the Long Island district, which he still continues to travel. 

Laban Clark has acted an important part in the history of 
New England Methodism ; the time has not come for the full 



148 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

delineation of his character and services, but the task will be a 
gratefal one to the future historian of the church. More than 
three score years and ten — a half-century of which has been 
spent in tireless Itinerant labors — have impaired his vigor, and 
crowned him with the glory of the hoary head ; but his zeal for 
the church is unabated ; he loves it with that generous, devoted 
loyalty, which has characterized the old age, as well as the 
youth, of most of the noble men who helped to lay its founda- 
tions. While he has travelled and preached indefatigably, he 
has also labored for all the great interests of our cause. He was 
one of the chief founders of the Wesleyan University, and has 
always upheld the claims of education in the church. His pul- 
pit discourses have been characterized by sound doctrinal and 
practical sense ; his preaching has often been powerful, notwith- 
standing a marked vocal defect. In social life, he is cheerfully 
affable, and his conversation abounds in the reminiscences of our 
early history, of which he is a living and a worthy monument. 

Mr. Clark is of medium stature ; his head is silvered with 
age, but his countenance retains the vivacity of lively and vigor- 
ous faculties. With much practical sagacity, he has combined 
a characteristic speculative and theorizing capacity ; and some 
of his schemes for the amendment of our complicated and 
unsymmetrical ecclesiastical system, if deemed too hypothetical 
to be practically experimented, have, nevertheless, not failed 
deeply to interest many of our leading minds. 

Oliver Beale is another familiar name which appears on the 
Conference roll, for the first time, the present year. He has 
left many v^dtnesses of his faithful ministry, especially in Maine. 
We regret that it is not in our power to present any adequate 
sketch of his life. He was born in Bridgewater, Mass., October 
13, 1777, and converted in July, 1800, at Thomaston, Maine. 
He found in Methodism an ardent and congenial form of Chris- 
tianity, and embraced it with all the warmth of his heart. The 
next year after his conversion, he was licensed as a local preacher, 
and was received as a probationer at the session of the Lynn 
Conference for the present year. His appointments were, in 1801, 
Readfield, Me., with Asa Heath; 1802, Falmouth, Me. ; 1803, 



FURTHER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 149 

Vershire, Vt., with Samuel Draper ; 1804, Barre, Vt. ; 1805, 
Vershire again. In 1806, he was returned to Maine, and 
travelled as Presiding Elder of Portland district. His successful 
administration led to his reappointment to the same office, on 
the Portland and Kennebec districts, during twelve years. In 
1818, he was placed among the supernumeraries, having been 
disabled, by lung fever, the preceding year. The following year, 
though still feeble, he took an appointment at Hallowell, Me. ; 
1820 and 1821, Hampden, Me. ; 1822, supernumerary again; 
1823 and 1824, Orrington, Me. ; 1825 and 1826, the Piscataquis 
mission, the labors of which seriously injured his impaired 
constitution ; 1827, Unity, Me. ; 1828, Wiscasset, Me. ; 1829, 
Augusta, Me. ; 1830, Presiding Elder of Somerset district, 
which he travelled also the following two years. In 1833 he 
was placed on the superannuated list ; the next year, however, 
he was transferred to the supernumerary list, where he continued, 
doing what service his exhausted health would allow, till his 
death. In March, 1836, he was attacked severely with pul- 
monary disease. He journeyed to the south for relief, but died 
in Baltimore, December 30, 1836, aged fifty-nine. " He died, as 
he lived, calm and peaceful." 

Oliver Beale carried with him everywhere the visible evidence 
that he had been with Jesus and had learned of him, and for sev- 
eral of his later years, the " marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus." 
He adhered to his work while his physical energies lasted. He 
was eminently successful, and has many stars in his crown in 
heaven. His brethren of the Maine Conference say of him : " As 
a minister of the Gospel, he was uniformly pious, and devoted 
to the work ; in prayer he was unusually interesting ; in preach- 
ing he was instructive, and sometimes excelled." "^ 

* Minutes, 1836-7. 

13# 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INCIDENTS AND KESULTS OF THE YEAR 1801-2, 

I^Sjah R. Sabin. — Landaff Circuit. — Ebenezer Washbtim. — Brandon Circuit. — Discipline. 
— Rencontres with Calvinism. — Persecutions. — Anecdote. — Middlebmy. — Charlotte. — 
Starksboro'. — Hinesburg. — An Anti-Calvinistic Dutchman. — Laban Clark Itinerating in 
Vermont. — Statistics. 

The ecclesiastical year 1801-2 was distinguished by great 
prosperity, and also by great conflicts. Elijah R. Sabin had 
been sent to the new LandafF circuit, in Vermont, formed, as 
we have seen, by Joseph Crawford, after the excursion of John 
I^angdon and Laban Clark. His labors were unintermitted, and 
in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. But he sunk under 
them, and was compelled to retreat from the field for three 
years, to recruit his exhausted energies. He had scattered 
broad-cast the good seed; and though, when he left the Con- 
ference, two yeai^s before, to go to his new circuit, he had to 
inquire and seek after it, as an unknown portion of New Eng- 
land, and found on his arrival but a small class in LandafF, yet 
now, as he departed with broken health, he bore with him the 
report of one hundred and sixty-four members, more than a 
hundred of whom had been gathered into the societies through 
his labors. 

Ebenezer Washburn was appointed, as we have seen, to 
Brandon circuit, Vt., a new range of travel, which was detached 
this year from Vergennes circuit. The prudent men of the 
ministry found it necessary, in that day of the infancy of the 
church, to maintain a stringent discipline. Many persons were 
attracted by the novelty of the new sect ; some joined it from 
mere resentment to the "standing order," and others from a 
sympathy with its liberal doctrines, but without a renewal of 
their hearts and lives. During the first six months of his travels 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS OV THE YEAR 1801-2. 151 

on Brandon circuit, Mr. Washburn resolutely applied the disci- 
plinary tests of the church, well knowing that the purity of its 
character was the only guarantee of its permanent success. He 
expelled in that time no less than thirty persons ; but " in every 
case," he says, "the brethren sustained me, and the Lord gave 
me on probation about ten more than we had lost." Mr. Wash- 
burn had, in common with nearly all his brethren in New 
England, to meet almost everywhere the hostility of the prev- 
alent theological opinions. They not only assailed the new 
cause from the pulpit, but had infected the people with a religious 
dogmatism, which often broke out in their social meetings and 
private intercourse. " Here, too," he writes, " I was compelled 
to be a man of contention. If I presented Christ to the people 
as having tasted death for every man, that was strenuously 
opposed by the doctrine of partial atonement. If I called on 
sinners to repent and believe the Gospel, I was told that a 
sinner could not repent till he was converted. If I preached the 
knowledge of sin forgiven, that was wild and dangerous fanat- 
icism. Indeed, the whole budget of Calvinian election and 
reprobation, with all its concomitant train of errors, was ready 
to oppose every point of truth in the Gospel system of a free, 
a known and a full salvation. It is true, a Crawford and a 
Mitchell, who had preceded me on that ground, had taught the 
clergy that it was not safe for them to meet the Methodist 
preachers before the congregations ; but the deacons and some 
of the leading members would, once in a while, risk a debate, 
while the clergy, from their own fastnesses, kept up a weekly 
cannonading against the Methodists. And the Methodist preacher 
who did not labor first to clear the rubbish out of the way, labored 
in vain to build the wall. I do not recollect any of our preachers 
now living, except our venerable Bishop Hedding and Laban 
Clark, who were personally acquainted with the labors, toils and 
opposition, which Methodist preachers had to contend with in 
Vermont at that time. I have had stones and snov/balls cast at 
me in volleys. I have had great dogs sent after me, to frighten 
my horse, as I was peacefully passing through small villages. 
But I was never harmed by any of them. I have been saluted with 



152 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the sound of * Glory, hosanna, amen, hallelujah ! ' mixed with oaths 
and profanity. If I turned my horse to ride toward them, they 
would show their want of confidence, both in their master and in 
themselves, by scattering and fleeing like base cowards. I 
preached one evening in Eutland, in an old, empty building, 
which had formerly been occupied for a distillery (the best church 
the Methodists could get to preach in at that time in Rutland), on 
the future punishment of the wicked. When I sat down, a man 
professing Universalism, and somewhat addicted to intemper- 
ance, came and stood before me, and said, 'You have been 
preaching a pack of lies to the people.' — 'If I have,' said I, 'I 
have placed myself in a bad situation ; for all liars, as well as 
all drunkards, are exposed to hell fire.' With that, he raved and 
smote his fists together, and said I had insulted him, and if I did 
not give him satisfaction, he would take it out of my hide. I 
looked upon him with a smile, and said, ' Friend, if you fake 
any pleasure in beating your fists over my head, I don't know 
that I shall object to it; but as I am a man subject to like 
passions with other men, I advise you to be very careful not to 
let them touch me, lest I should do that which both you and 
I should be sorry for.' At that moment one cried out, ' I guess 
there w^ill be good done here this evening, for the devil is 
mad.' The man was seized that instant, and hurried toward 
the door. I requested the people to let him alone ; but I could 
avail nothing. They pitch -poled him from one to another, 
scarcely letting him touch the ground for the space of thirty 
feet, or more, till he was out of the congregation. I was follow- 
ing on, and crying, ' Don't hurt the man! don't hurt the man !' 
That man experienced religion soon after, and became one of the 
warmest friends I had in the region of Rutland." 

Transferences from one district to another, by the Presiding 
Elder, were very common in those days. After laboring some 
time on Brandon circuit, Mr. Washburn was sent to that of 
Vergennes, which now comprised tv^relve appointments, and one 
hundred and forty miles' travel in two weeks. He has recorded 
several reminiscences of his labors during the present year, on 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR 1801-2. 153 

this circuit. They are mostly personal, but throw some light 
upon the times, and the infancy of now flourishing societies. 

" In Middlebury," he says " I found a small and persecuted 
Class. Our preaching place was at the house of Lebbeus Har- 
ris ; and in the midst of that village our average congregation 
was from twenty-five to thirty. Mr. and Mrs. Harris were 
deeply pious, and were ready to greet the preacher with joy at his 
coming, and to render him every service and accommodation to 
make him comfortable and happy while he stayed ." At Middlebury 
we have now a prosperous society of nearly two hundred members. 

" At Charlotte, I found a large congregation, but no regular 
Class formed. There was Major Jonathan Brakenridge and his 
wife, who had experienced religion at a Quarterly Meeting a 
few weeks before, and in the Love Feast had requested their 
names to be taken down as probationers. Mr. Ryan had taken 
their names, but had not attached them to any particular Class. 
On the second time of my visiting Charlotte, I formed them and 
five others into a Class, which stood firm against the rage of per- 
secution and opposition." This society continues still to hold on 
its course. 

" In Starksboro' I found a good society. The house of old 
Brother Bushnell was the preaching house, and the preacher's 
home. The family were mostly professors of religion, and 
members of the Methodist church ; and those that were not 
were very kind and friendly, even down to the little grand-chil- 
dren. The old lady professed the blessing of sanctification, and 
delighted in conversing on the holy theme of perfect love. I 
was always glad when the time came to preach and spend a 
night at Brother Bushnell's. At Hinesburg there was also a 
good society, containing several warm-hearted brethren and sis- 
ters. The house of Brother Peck, who was a leader and circuit 
steward, was the principal home for the preachers ; but I found 
it good and profitable for me to visit from house to house." 
Starksboro' and Hinesburg have been detached from the circuit, 
and now form a distinct field of labor, including nearly two hun- 
dred and fifty members. 

Such are examples of Mr. Washburn's success on this circuit; 



154 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

but though he was thus prospered in his labors, and founded 
several societies, the theological prejudices which he had to 
combat elsewhere met him here also. His shrewd tact and 
Scriptural resources in debate usually gave him the advantage 
in such rencontres. If the Methodist Itinerants generally found 
the people, as well as the clergy, obstinately pertinacious of 
these prejudices, circumstances often occurred, which, appealing 
to the natural sense or natural affections of the popular mind, 
recoiled effectually against them. Mr. Washburn relates an 
incident of this kind, which occurred the present year, on Ver- 
gennes circuit, and which, while it showed how the instincts of 
a sound though rugged mind spontaneously repel unnatural 
errors of opinion, resulted also in the formation of a society : 
" At Hinesburg Hill, I put up at Brother Norton's, who was also 
a leader and steward ; and I think I have seldom found a man 
and woman more fully devoted to God than Mr. and Mrs. Nor- 
ton. In this place there was a small, but very loving society. 
About three miles from it was a wealthy Dutchman, by the 
name of Snyder, who had a large family ; his youngest child, an 
interesting little girl, about four or five years old, sickened, and 
suddenly died. They called a preacher to attend the funeral, 
who preached a pointed Calvinistic sermon, which did not much 
please the Dutchman. When the preacher turned his address to 
the afflicted parents, he told them there were at least nine chances 
for their child to be lost to one for it to be saved. The father's 
heart could bear no more ; he gave a heavy stamp with his foot, 
and said, ' Hold your tongue ! I will have no such talk in my 
house ; I am so well satisfied where my little babe has gone, 
that, by the grace of God, I intend to do just so as to go to it.' 
He then turned to Mr. Norton, and said, 'Neighbor Norton, 
won't you bring a Methodist preacher to see me ? ' — Mr. Norton 
said, ' I will, if you request it.' — ' When will you bring one ? ' 
said he. — Mr. N. said, 'I expect one at my house to-night; I 
think it probable I can come here with him to-morrow morning.' — 
' Do,' said he. The child was buried without further ceremony. 
The next morning Mr. Norton and I went to see him. The 
whole family were collected together, and I conversed with each 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR 1801-2. 155 

one separately, gave a general exhortation, and prayed with 
them, and then left an appointment to preach there in two weeks, 
and went on my way rejoicing. When I came round again, I 
found the man, and his wife, and several of their children, ear- 
nestly seeking the salvation of their souls. I preached to them, 
and a goodly number of their neighbors. The Lord was with 
us, and owned and blessed his word. The old gentleman, his 
wife, and some of their children, experienced religion, and joined 
the Methodists ; and when I left the circuit, I left a flourishing 
Class in that place, of which Brother Snyder was the leader. It 
gave me much joy to learn, from his obituary notice, that Brother 
Snyder maintained a Christian walk, filled the offices of leader and 
steward with fidelity and usefulness, and died in the triumphs of 
a Gospel faith, O, how mysterious are the ways of Providence ! 
If it had not been for that Calvinistic sermon, and almost blas- 
phemous address at the funeral of the child, the probability is 
that I should never have seen that family or neighborhood." 

Such instances of encouragement, under their almost insup- 
portable embarrassments, were not uncommon to the indomitable 
evangelists of those times. 

Laban Clark labored successfully, some months of this year, 
on Fletcher circuit, Vt. Such is the paucity of our information 
respecting that period of our history, and the rapidity with which 
it is passing into oblivion, that every illustration of it, however 
slight, becomes interesting, if not valuable. We have obtained 
mere glimpses of Mr. Clark's labors during the year. " In the 
first quarter, I went," he says, " three times around the circuit, 
not only filling all the regular appointments, but visited and 
preached in several new places, where the preachers had never 
been. Although the country was new, the roads bad, or none at 
all, the accommodations poor, and sometimes the fare scanty, 
yet I enjoyed myself well, and felt my heart united with the 
people. My only object was to do them good, and be the means 
of saving souls from death. I had the satisfaction of seeing 
numbers awakened and converted to God ; and the Lord gave 
me favor with his saints. Our second Quarterly Meeting was 
in Essex. On Saturday evening, the Presiding Elder asked me 



156 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

if I had all my things with me. I told him I had left most of 
them at Missisque Bay, in Canada. He said the preachers 
ought always to be ready, at the second Quarterly Meeting, to 
change, and I must go on in two weeks to Brandon circuit. 
My Vergennes appointments being already given out, in the 
north part of the circuit to the bay, where I must be the next 
Sabbath, he directed me to take that route, and after the Sab- 
bath to come right on to Brandon. But I had an appointment for 
the Tuesday following the Sabbath, at St. Alban's Point, a new 
place, where I had been once, and where several persons were 
awakened. I went on, and filled all the appointments till I came 
to this new one at the ' Point.' We had the house full ; I 
preached with great freedom, and many were weeping. After 
preaching, I proposed to have a Class meeting ; a number stayed, 
and several found peace in believing. I formed them into a 
Class, and we had a melting time. The next morning they all 
came together, and I took my departure from them with many 
tears. I went to Fairfax ; met the steward, and settled my 
accounts, he paying me $18, making in all, for the six months, 
$25. Henry Ryan was removed from Vergennes to Pittsfield ; 
Ebenezer Washburn, from Brandon to Vergennes, and I had come 
to fill his place. Notwithstanding these frequent changes, and 
the short time preachers remained in a circuit, the attachments 
formed between the preachers and the people were often very 
strong, and their partings very painful. This was the case 
between the people and Mr. Washburn, on this circuit, and 1 
was fearful that I should not be cordially received among them; 
but I found them kind and affectionate, and God gave me favor 
among them. Mr. Draper, my colleague, was a hearty and 
willing laborer, and we agreed to enlarge our circuit, by taking 
another week's appointment, and, as we called it, ' break up new 
ground.' I set ofT through Sudbury, Whiting, Shoram, Orwell, 
Benson, and obtained appointments in all these towns, so 
that our circuit embraced the whole country between the lake 
and Green Mountains, from Salisbury to Danby; and the 
preachers met every two weeks In Rutland. Our labors were 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR 1801-2. 157 

incessant ; but God comforted our hearts, and prospered the work 
of our hands." =^ 

It was not usual, in those days, for young preachers on pro- 
bation to attend the Conference. Mr. Clark continued, there- 
fore, his labors during the absence of the other Itinerants, and 
passed on to their vacated places ; so that, by the end of the 
ecclesiastical year, he had preached in almost every town of 
Vermont west of the mountains. Most of the places mentioned 
as visited by him for the first time this year received his mes- 
sage, and are now the seats of flourishing churches. 

Such are the few and very imperfect notices we have been 
able to procure of the labors of Methodism at this time in Ver- 
mont. They had been greatly successful ; the spiritual indiffer- 
ence and inveterate theological prepossessions of the people gave 
way before the sturdy logic and povp-erful preaching of the unfal- 
tering Itinerants, and wide-spread religious interest prevailed 
wherever they directed their travels. The result was the report, 
at the next Conference, of an aggregate membership in the state 
of 2127, being a gain on the preceding year of 520.t The 
circuits were extended on every hand, and some of them subdi- 
vided into new tours of ministerial travel ; the year began with 
seven, it closed with ten. 

The faithful and suffering evangelists of Maine had but little 
increase the present year ; but they were profitably employed in 
disciplining their recent societies, and systematizing their labors, 
so that they reported ten circuits at the next Conference — a gain 
of three. The Itinerants in New Hampshire had been more 
successful. The aggregate returns from that state were 675, 
affording a net gain of 151. One circuit had been added to the 
four with which the year began. Massachusetts returned 1908 
members — a gain of 245. It now comprised twelve circuits 
and stations ; two had been added during the year. Methodism 
still advanced slowly in Rhode Island. Its returns for the year 
were 312 — its increase, 85. Connecticut reported 1658 — an 
increase of 91. 

* Communication to the author. 

t We omit Cambridge circuit, which was partly in Vermont. 

14 



158 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

The total membership in New England, including Cambridge 
circuit, was, at the end of the ecclesiastical year, 8605 — the 
total gain, 1629. The Methodists of the Eastern States were 
now nearly one-tenth of the whole church in the United States 
and Canada ; and their increase this year amounted to nearly 
one-eighth of the gains of the denomination. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CONFERENCES OF 1802. 

New York Session. — Its New England Character. — Bostwick and Brodhead. — Returns 
from the Circuits. — Merwin. — Sabbath Services. — Asbury and Whatcoat at New 
Rochelle. — Their Passage to Maine. — At General Lippett's. — Arrival in Maine. — 
Progress of Methodism in the Province. — The New England Conference. — Returns from 
the Cu-cuits. — Finances. — Incidents of the Session. — Return of the Bishops. — Their 
Visit at Waltham. 

The New York Conference for 1802 commenced its session, in 
the city of New York, on Tuesday, the first day of June. Asbury, 
accompanied by Whatcoat, arrived there in the preceding week, 
wearied by nearly four thousand miles travel, and almost daily ser- 
mons, within the last twelve months. " I have- had," he writes, 
" great exercises in going through rains and continual labor; but 
have been blest with great peace, by my good and gracious God." 
And again he writes, " My soul hath been oppressed wath deep 
and sore temptations ; it may be thus, that I should not be lifted 
up at the prosperity of the church, and increase of ministers and 
members. I have a variety of letters, conveying the pleasing 
intelligence of the work of God in every state, district, and in 
most of the circuits, in the Union. Ride on, blessed Redeemer, 
until all the states and nations of the earth are subdued unto thy 
sacred sway ! " 

The Conference was held in the old John-street church, the 
first Methodist chapel erected in America. Asbury records, with 
pleasure, that its deliberations were conducted " in great peace 
and union," and rejoices over the large accession of "preachers 
on trial as travellers." There were no less than twenty-two 
such — about one-third of the whole number received by the 
seven Conferences of the year. 

Saturday, the 5th, was spent as a day of solemn fasting and 



160 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

prayer " for the church, the Conference, the continent and the 
world." Two sermons were preached ; the first by John 
McClaskey, of honorable memory in the middle Conferences. 
In the evening Asbury discoursed on the influence of the min- 
istry as " the savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them 
that perish." " I preached," he writes, " with great plainness, 
and so much fire as made my earthly tabernacle very restless 
through the night." 

There was a large representation of New England at this 
session. It was, in fact, a New England Conference, territorially ; 
for twenty-six of its thirty-one appointments were either wholly 
or in part within the Eastern States.=^ Three of its four dis- 
tricts bore New England names, and comprised but two New 
York circuits, while nearly one-half of the circuits of the other 
district lay within New England. Of the sixty-one preachers 
who received appointments the present year, only eighteen were 
sent to places which bore New York names. It must be remarked, 
however, that the New York Conference did not, according to 
the Minutes, include, at this time, the Albany district. 

Among the leading New England preachers present were 
Bostwick and Brodhead, who had travelled extensive districts 
during the year. Bostwick's quarterly tour reached from Con- 
necticut into Canada, and he commanded a corps of fourteen 
devoted men, among whom were James Coleman, Elijah Chiches- 
ter, Laban Clark and Ebenezer Washburn. Brodhead superin- 
tended the New London district, which extended from Long 
Island Sound into the interior of Vermont, and included among 
its indefatigable laborers such men as Joseph Crawford, Martin 
Ruter, Phineas Peck, Peter Vannest, Henry Eames, Thomas 
Branch and Elijah R. Sabin. A large portion of these preachers 
were at New York during the session, besides many others who 
are familiar to our history, as Thomas Sargent, Daniel Ostran- 
der, Samuel Merwin, Peter Jayne, John Finnegan, William 
Thatcher, &c. Most of the Eastern preachers had encourag- 
ing news to report from their appointments. Merwin had 

* We except from the estimate the Canada appointments, which were considered 
missions. 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 161 

been prospered on Redding circuit, Conn., and returned two 
hundred and twenty-seven members — an increase of thirty- 
six since the last Conference. His labors had been largely useful 
to other churches, which then, as in later years, reaped most of 
the results of Methodist revivals in New England. He had been 
successful in New Haven especially, where he was instrumental 
in the conversion of several students, whose example led to a 
salutary religious interest in Yale College. Peter Moriarty had 
witnessed good results from his ministrations on Litchfield cir- 
cuit. Conn., notwithstanding it was intrenched in Calvinistic 
exclusiveness. He returned three hundred and eight members 
— a gain of twenty-seven. Much interest had prevailed on 
Middletown circuit. Conn., and Elijah Bachelor reported three 
hundred and fifteen members — an increase of thirty-five. Truman 
Bishop and Thomas Branch had prospered on Vershire circuit, 
Vt., and returned three hundred and ninety-five : they had gained 
more than forty. New London and Pomfret circuit had been 
visited with special influences of the Spirit. Peter Vannest, 
who was appointed to it the preceding year, had been sent into 
Canada to aid the few Itinerants who were founding the church 
there ; but Phineas Peck and James Annis sustained success- 
fully its great labors, and reported more than six hundred mem- 
bers : they had gained nearly one hundred. Joseph Mitchell 
returned a gain from Pittsfield circuit, Mass., of forty-three. 
Joseph Crawford had labored alone, but energetically, on Bar- 
nard circuit, Vt., and its membership had advanced from forty 
to one hundred and sixty-one. John Nichols and Elijah Ward 
reported from Wethersfield, Vt., one hundred and eighty-eight 
being a gain of fifty-five ; and Whittingham circuit, in the samf 
state, had added to its last year's return of one hundred and 
ninety-one no less than eighty-two. From Hanover circuit, 
N. H., Reuben Jones reported a gain of nearly two hundred. 
Such were some of the reports of the year's results in the New 
England States. They hardly indicate, however, the success 
of the labors of these devoted men. Their cause was yet feeble 
and contemned ; and when even many hundreds were awakened 
and converted on their long circuits, comparatively few were 
14# 



162 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

gathered into their own societies. Other denominations, while 
they ceased not to assail them, very readily received their 
converts ; and occasionally they had to expose and combat sys- 
tematic stratagems of prosely tism — a delicate task, which they, 
however, performed with their characteristic peremptoriness. 

The Conference continued in session, examining members and 
candidates, receiving returns from the circuits, and holding pub- 
lic meetings for preaching every evening, till the end of the 
week. Sunday, the 6th, was " the great day of the feast." 
Much interest prevailed among the Methodists of the city. They 
were now nearly one thousand strong, and, with theit' families, 
afforded crowded congregations to the preachers. There was a 
Love Feast at eight o'clock, a. m. ; preaching followed at ten, 
and the Lord's Supper was administered at twelve. In the 
John-street chapel "some good shakings," says Asbury, "went 
through the house ; but there was nothing very signal." Collec- 
tions were taken in all the churches, to make up the deficiency 
in the allowance of the preachers. Asbury preached on the 
subject from " Let all your things be done with charity." In 
the afternoon he assisted at a similar meeting in the Bowery 
church, and in the evening preached again at the North River 
church. " And so," he writes, after the laborious week of the 
Conference and the fatiguing services of the Sabbath, — "and so 
we closed our labors in the city. But instead of a page, it 
would require a volume to tell the restless tossings I have had, 
— the difficulties and anxieties I have felt about preachers and 
people, here and elsewhere, — alternate joy arid sorrow. But I 
have been supported. 1 am done ; I am gone. New York, 
once more, farewell ! " 

On Monday, the 7th, he was on his way to New England, 
still accompanied by Whatcoat. They paused, before crossing 
the boundary, at his favorite retreat in the family of the Sher- 
woods, near New Rochelle. They needed rest after the preced- 
ing six Conferences of the year, and their unintermitted travels over 
the Union. The venerable Asbury was not devoid of tenderness, 
or even poetical sentiment, notwithstanding the practical force 
of his character, and the almost military hardiness of his Hfe. 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 163 

Wearied in mind and body, he felt deeply the rural tranquillity 
and beauty around him during the two days of his rest at New 
Rochelle ; for to him they were comparatively rest days, though 
he held a service on each of them. " How sweet," he writes, 
" to me are all the moving and still-life scenes which now sur- 
round me on every side ! The quiet country houses ; the fields 
and orchards, bearing the promise of the fruitful year ; the flocks 
and herds ; the hills and vales and dewy meads ; the gliding 
streams and murmuring brooks : and thou, too. Solitude, — with, 
thy attendants, Silence and Meditation, — how dost thou solace 
my pensive mind, after the tempest of fear, and care, and tumult, 
and talk, experienced in the noisy, bustling city ! ' Where will 
they send me ? — to Hampshire — to Rhode Island — to Connect- 
icut — to Canada ? ' One preacher wishes to go where another 
dreads to be sent, and smiles at the fears of his more timid 
brother. 'But,' say the citizens, 'how shall we be supplied? 
Such an one will be too strict, and may put us out of order ; a 
second will not keep the congregations together, and our collec- 
tions will not be made ; a third will not please, because he is not 
a lively preacher, and we want a revival of religion.' Ah ! the 
half is not told of the passions, parties, hopes and fears, amongst 
the best of men, through ignorance and mistake." 

On the day on which he took his departure from amidst the 
scenes that inspired these feelings, he gave a heartfelt expression 
of the impression they had produced, in a sermon on the beautiful 
passage of the psalmist, " The Lord is gracious and full of com- 
passion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good 
to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy 
works shall praise thee, oh Lord, and thy saints shall bless 
thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk 
of thy power." 

On the 9th they entered Connecticut, and passed on rapidly, 
but with continued preaching, towards Maine, where the New 
England Conference was to convene. Asbury's notices of their 
progress are too meagre to be satisfactory, and would hardly be 
deemed of sufficient importance to be inserted in a work of higher 
pretensions than our humble record. Scanty as they are, how- 



164 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ever, they have a local interest for the places referred to in 
them, and are too precious to be wholly omitted. 

" On Wednesday, 9th," he writes, " we were at James Banks', 
Byram River. Bishop Whatcoat preached : I only exhorted and 
read a letter. Next day I preached at tKe Old Well, at Ab- 
salom Day's, near Norwalk, upon Acts 3 : 26. I had to walk 
out at eight o'clock in the night to a crowded school-house. 
There has been a small stir here. Brother Whatcoat was very 
illwith a bilious fever. I was afraid of pushing him too swiftly. 
In Stratford we stopped at Elnathan Wheeler's, where our weary 
bodies and spirits were refreshed. Next morning we moved off 
in earnest, expecting to reach North Bristol ; but, at the ferry, our 
courage was somewhat damped. The boat was fast aground, and 
the tide was low ; nevertheless, the boat from the other side came 
to our relief, and carried us across Housatonic in six minutes. 
With the kind family of Mr. Jocelin we rested two hours in New 
Haven. I was pleased to hear that the students of Yale College, 
as many as ninety or one hundred, had been under gracious 
impressions. They would come to hear the Methodists, and, 
like other very genteel people, mock and deride. But God struck 
some of the vilest of them, by the ministry of Samuel Merwin. 

" Sunday 13th, at West Haddam I preached to a few. There 
had been no notice. Bishop Whatcoat, feeble as he was, spoke 
in the afternoon. I read some letters, giving an account of the 
prosperity of the work of God, south and west. This has been 
a trying week to body and soul and spirit. I have made out 
four hundred and twenty miles, exceedingly rocky and rude. 
Should I live to be as old as Mr. Wesley, and travel as long as 
he did, yet shall I never see a Maryland in Connecticut. In 
West Haddam our people have nearly finished their meeting- 
house. It has a most excellent pulpit, and a neat sanctuary 
round it, simply enclosed. We lodged with John Wilcox. He 
is faint, yet faithful, and waiting for the consolation of Israel, 
in holiness and glory. My soul is like a weaned child, — to do 
and to suffer; to make rest more desirable in pursuit, and more 
abundantly satisfying in the enjoyment. To say not a word 
about earthly things, my spirit has been greatly assaulted, and 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 165 

divinely supported in grace, — in God, in Christ, — in the hope 
of rest, rest, rest, eternal rest ! " 

The Italics are his own, and are significant of the ideas which 
his ceaseless fatigues suggested, in association with his hopes of 
heaven. To such a man there must have been a peculiar mean- 
ing and beauty in the promise of " the rest that remaineth to the 
people of God." 

*' On Monday," he continues, " we crossed to Connecticut 
river, and came to Middle Haddam, lodging at Elisha Day's; 
but it is night in this place, — a little meeting-house, a little 
society, and little religion. Tuesday, 15, I preached upon Acts 
8:6, — ' And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and 
preached Christ unto them.' I inquired how the Apostles 
' preached Christ.' To sinners, the atonement : to be appre- 
hended by faith, preceded by repentance : in believers, the ' hope 
of glory.' It was observed that it appeared, according to the 
Divine attributes of justice, mercy, truth, and love, that there 
must be a general provision for all ; such as are in God prove it 
must be so. ' Preached Christ ' as the anointed of God ; a 
prophet, priest, and king, generally and personally, in his opera- 
tions of grace. The people were attentive. After preaching, I 
ordained Jeremiah Stocking a deacon. Wednesday, 16, we 
dined at Lyme, and rode on to New London. Brother What- 
coat preached on 2 Cor. 6:5; the house was crowded, and the 
young men and boys very disorderly. We lodged at Richard 
Douglass'. Thursday, 17, we had a pleasant ride to Norwich. 
Behold ! the temple hath been burnt down, and more elegantly 
rebuilt, since I was here. Thus have they made a benefit of a 
calamity. Bishop Whatcoat preached upon Christ's love for the 
church : I read a letter and prayed." 

On Saturday they arrived at General Lippett's, in Cranston, 
the Methodist head-quarters of Rhode Island. The next day 
they had a general gathering of the church from all the vicinity. 
Asbury opened the meeting at half past ten, a. m., with a ser- 
mon. " In my improvement," he says, " I showed the character 
and offices of Moses compared with Christ : the glory of Moses, 
and the superior glory of Christ : the letter and spirit of the 



166 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

law, the letter and spirit of the Gospel ; and I dwelt largely 
upon the latter. Plainness of speech, simple and searching; 
pointed to every case and character. My work was imperfect : 
I had not time, and, perhaps, not skill, to finish and properly 
apply so great a subject." 

He then ordained several preachers, who had not been able to 
attend the New York Conference, and could not go to the dis- 
tant New England session, in Maine. The administration of 
the Lord's supper followed the ordination service, and What- 
coat concluded the morning exercises by a sermon on "the 
unsearchable riches of Christ." A number of preachers were 
present from the nearest circuits, four of whom, according to a 
general usage of the times, followed the sermon with exhorta- 
tions — and the services of the day closed not till four o'clock in 
the afternoon. 

On Monday they pressed forward about twenty-eight miles, to 
Attleboro', Mass., and the next day, " after a heavy, hungry, 
weary, thirsty ride," they reached Boston. Fatigued as they 
were, Asbury had to yield to the importunity of the feeble band 
of Methodists in the metropolis, and in the evening ascended 
their rude pulpit in Hanover avenue, and encoumged them with 
a sermon. On Wednesday he was at Lynn. Notice of his 
coming had been spread through the town ; the people assem- 
bled, and he admonished them in the language of the prophet, 
" Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy ; break up 
your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come 
and rain righteousness upon you." 

The next day their course was still onward. "We reached," 
says Asbury, " Marblehead. Brother Whatcoat preached ; I 
gave an exhortation : our audience, chiefly females, nearly filled 
the room. Mr. Boiler is our good friend (but not a brother), in 
lending his own house, and assisting us largely in building ours 
for the worship of God. Saturday, 26, at Salisbury, Brother 
Whatcoat gave us a lecture on 1 John 5 : 4. Sunday, 27, we 
had a Love Feast at Jemima Eaton's ; a sermon at the meeting- 
house, and administered the Sacrament. I spoke on Zech„ 12 : 
10. Brother Whatcoat in the afternoon, from 2 Cor. 5 : 20. 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 167 

Joshua Taylor preached in the evening. It was hard labor, and 
by no means agreeable to me to preach in other people's houses ; 
to which I may add, that I was under bodily and spiritual 
infirmity. It is our duty to suffer and to serve : and it is true 
that we submit to the one, and will, by grace, do the other. 
We feel the prejudices of the people. They may think we wish 
to invade their rights ; but indeed they are mistaken, for I 
would rather preach under a tree. Monday, 28, we came away 
in haste to Wells ; and thus one day's ride of fifty-one miles 
brought us across the State of New Hampshire." 

On Tuesday, the 29th, they reached Falmouth, near Portland ; 
and though they had rode thirty miles, Asbury preached in the 
evening. The next day, after " a racking ride of about forty-five 
miles," they entered Monmouth, where the session of the Confer- 
ence was to begin the following morning. 

On Thursday, July 1, 1802, began the second session of the 
New England Conference in Maine. The first was held at 
Readfield, in the year 1798.^ About four years had inter- 
vened ; they had been years of severe struggle and suffering to 
the travelling ministry, but of great results also. Maine still 
continued to be a single district, but its six circuits, reported at 
the first session, had increased to ten, and its ten Itinerants to 
eighteen, while its membership had gained more than one-third. 
If it was still the day of small things, it was, at least, a day of 
large hopes. Only about seven years had elapsed since Lee 
organized, in the town where the Conference met, the first 
Methodist church of Maine ; there were now more than 1400 
Methodists in the Province — the average increase per annum 
had been more than two hundred. 

The session was held " in the upper room of Sewell Prescott's 
house." t There were present, according to Asbury, fifteen 
members and nine probationers. The manuscript records give 
but fourteen members, viz. : George Pickering, Joshua Taylor, 
Ralph Williston, Timothy Merritt, Aaron Humphrey, and 
Joseph Snelling, Elders ; Epaphras Kibby, Comfort C. Smith, 

* Memorials of Introduction of Methodism, &c., chap, xxviii. 
t Asbury's Journals, Anno 1802. 



168 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Asa Heath, Reuben Hubbard, Daniel Webb, Beacons; Nathan 
Emery, Joseph Baker, and John Gove, eligible to Deacon's 
orders ; Samuel Hillman, Daniel Ricker, and Daniel Jones were 
present, and received on trial. Daniel Perry and Allen H. 
Cobb, though not present, were also received as probationers. 
Oliver Beale, who was present, having travelled one year, was 
continued on trial. 

The reports from the circuits showed good, but not extraordi- 
nary progress. Taylor, Pickering, Snelling, and Webb, were 
the only preachers present from Massachusetts ; their returns of 
members varied but little from those of the preceding session. 
Boston had lost ; the desperate but patient struggle of Method- 
ism in the metropolis was still to be prolonged. Pickering 
reported a slight loss, also, from Lynn. Snelling returned a 
small increase from Needham circuit. Provincetown, Sandwich, 
and Nantucket, remained as at the last reports. The preachers 
from Maine brought more encouraging news. Joshua Taylor, 
though appointed at the preceding Conference to Boston district, 
had spent about half the year in Maine, superintending its cir- 
cuits.^ An interesting revival had prevailed at Vienna (then 
Goshen), and his Quarterly Meetings " generally had been sea- 
sons of great interest, and sometimes were attended with great 
power from on high, in the awakening and conversion of sinners. 
The people often rode on horseback, then the usual conveyance, 
ten, twenty, or even thirty miles, to attend these meetings." 
Timothy Merritt, Oliver Beale, Nathan Emery, and most of 
their colleagues, had some good news to report, as well as peril- 
ous winter adventures, and no little suffering. There had been 
but ten of them in the whole province during the year, but they 
had added three large circuits to their field of labor. 

Asbury says, the " business was conducted in great peace and 
order." Three of the little band solicited locations ; John 
Merrick's request was granted ; Timothy Merritt's was refused ; 
he was yet young, being only in his twenty-seventh year, 
and notwithstanding his unusual abilities, felt depressed and 
discouraged by a sense of unfitness for the great responsibilities 

* Letter to the author. 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 169 

of the ministry. He deemed himself particularly " deficient as 
a disciplinarian." " His brethren, however," adds the old Con- 
ference record, "believed it to be a temptation; and as they were 
unwilling to lose him from the travelling connection, he con- 
sented to take an appointment." Ralph Williston's request for 
a location was also refused, and he consented, with some tem- 
porary accommodations, to retain his charge of the Maine 
district.^ 

The financial accounts of the Conference show the usual 
deficit in the allowances of the preachers. Feeble as the church 
still was, it would seem that extended circuits, comprehending 
many towns, and supplied usually by but two preachers each, 
ought to have been able to meet their full pecuniary claim — the 
pittance of eighty dollars besides travelling expenses, especially 
as the latter item was usually very small. The records show, 
however, that out of twenty preachers whose accounts are ren- 
dered, only one, George Pickering, received full payment. 
When it is considered that out of these twenty claimants only 
six were married, the extremely limited resources of the church 
become strikingly apparent.! Timothy Merritt had received 
during the year $63.50; Epaphras Kibby, $35.50; Joshua 
Soule, $45.36 ; Daniel Fiddler, who, as we have noticed, had 
paused on his way from Nova Scotia to aid the New England 
preachers, received only $32.25, the smallest amount recorded. 
He had suffered well, as a volunteer, the privations of the New • 
England Itinerancy for two years, and was allowed now to retreat 
southward to his original and more favorable fields of labor in 
the Middle States. Comfort C. Smith is recorded as having 
" preached gratuitously ; " a qualification that might with hardly 

* One of Mr. Williston's motives for wishing to locate, as given in the MS. records, 
was ill health ; another, a desire to enter into secular business. He did not continue 
much longer in the onerous labors of the Itineramcy. He left New England at the end of 
this Conference year, was appointed to New York city, and to one or two places in 
Maryland ; after which he successively joined the Lutheran and Protestant Episcopal 
churches. As we write this note (March, 1851), the newspapers announce his death, 
in his 81st year. He died in the Protestant Episcopal church. Mr. Williston was the 
first Secretary of the New England Conference ; the early records are in his hand- writing. 

t MS. records. The married preachers were Joseph Snelling, Aaron Humphrey, 
Daniel Webb, Asa Heath, John Merrick, and George Pickering. 

15 



170 MEMORIALS OP METHODISM. 

a figure of speech, have been written against all the other names. 
The aggregate deficiency was not less, in proportion to the num- 
ber of preachers, than at the preceding session : there were then 
twenty-two claimants, and a deficit of $689 ; at the present 
session there were twenty claimants, with a deficit of S651. 
Asbury knew the privations of the New England Conference, 
and had brought with him some aid for its faithful preachers. 
The Baltimore Conference, still remembering its maternal rela= 
tion to the eastern churches, sent by him $185 " as a present," 
and the New York Conference sent $20 ; about $35 had been 
collected on the circuits, and the chartered fund yielded $90. 
Eighteen of the preachers present gave $2 each, so that about 
one-half of the deficit was met by these extra contributions. 
Thirty dollars are recorded as " divided between several young 
preachers who were needy." Asbury remarks, that " the mar- 
ried preachers who came to the Conference received about $120, 
the single brethren about $62, and the probationers a small 
donation of $2 each, which came from far." 

These are minute facts, but we cannot appreciate justly the 
times or the men, without them. If the reader thinks we view 
them with a microscopic eye, he should remind himself that in a 
few drops of water the microscope discerns a world of real, not 
imaginary life. 

During the session there was preaching daily. On Saturday, 
Joseph Baker, John Gove, Samuel Hillman, and Gilman Moody 
(a local preacher, and the first lay Methodist of Maine), were 
ordained Deacons, by Bishop Whatcoat. The Sabbath was a 
day of extraordinary interest ; a great concourse of people 
assembled from many miles around. The chapel could not 
accommodate the multitude, and preaching was simultaneously 
held within its walls and in a neighboring grove. Five sermons 
were delivered during the day. A Love Feast was held in the 
morning, in which members of the societies in various parts of 
the province participated, and it is estimated that about one-sixth 
of all the Methodists of Maine communed together at the Sa- 
crament of the Lord's supper.^ Five members of the Confer- 

* Conference MS. records. 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 171 

ence — Epaphras Kibby, Daniel Webb, Asa Heath, Comfort 
Smith, and Reuben Hibbard — were ordained Elders, by Asbury; 
and so limited was yet the ministry, that all the Elders present 
joined him in the imposition of hands. The ordination service 
was performed in the open air, in the presence of about three 
thousand spectators. The candidates " kneeled," says Asbury, 
" outside at the door of the house — may they open the door of 
the church of God in discipline, and the way to heaven by 
preaching the Gospel." Asbury speaks of the day as an " open 
time, and some felt the word ; " and Joshua Taylor says that " a 
number professed to find peace to their souls." ^ 

The next morning, Asbury, accompanied by Whatcoat and 
Pickering, was, as usual, " off early and in haste," on his south- 
ward and westward route over the country. They rode forty- 
five miles before night, and the next day pressed onward, reach- 
ing Epping, N. H., where they tarried a day, and held " meet- 
ings at Captain Fogg's." Asbury preached a sermon on the 
Christian virtues befitting old age; and Pickering, in the evening, 
discoursed on the general lack of vital religion. They passed on 
rapidly, the next day, to the home of Pickering, the family of 
Abraham Bemis, in Waltham, Mass. " We shall have a great 
opening in New Hampshire," says Asbury, as he leaves that 
state, " and a district formed there in a few years." The pre- 
diction was fulfilled in two years. 

They spent two or three days with Pickering, amidst the rural 
quiet and beauty of Mr. Bemis' farm. It was the height of 
summer ; the fields were in their richest maturity, and the 
retreat so entirely secluded by its amphitheatre of hills as seem- 
ingly to shut out all the world and its cares. Yet the trials of 
his office intruded upon him, even here. After " fasting, rest- 
ing, and writing a little," he says, " I feel that fasting at my 
time of life, if only once a month, brings on such a dejection of 
spirits, I can hardly bear up under it. I have had lately two 
official cordials, ironically speaking. They know how to come 
at me, although four or five hundred miles distant. — Lord, help 

* Communication to the author. 



172 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

me to do and suffer all I ought to do and suffer for thee, thy 

church, and ministers ! " 

On the Sabbath, he preached twice in the chapel. On Mon- 
day, 12th, they rode to Milford. " We came," he says, " through 
Needham. George Pickering stopped to demand the church 
rates taken from the Methodists, amounting to one hundred 
dollars or upwards ; this is to pay the Independent ministers, 
whose forefathers fled from Episcopal tyranny : yet, be it known 
unto all men, their children's children are risen up, and glory in 
supporting the Gospel according to law. Happy the descend- 
ants who condemn not themselves, by doing that which their 
ancestors disallowed ! We lodged at Mr. Sterne's, at Milford." 

On Tuesday, he reached Thompson, Ct., and, though sick 
" with bilious head-ache," and able to say but little, he preached 
" in Nichols' meeting-house," exhorting the young church to 
" hold fast its profession," " seeing that we have a great High 
Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." 

"Wednesday, 14, I rode to Captain Lyon's, in Canterbury: 
after dinner, I continued on over the rocks and hills, to Wind- 
ham. We had a meeting at Eobinson's ; 1 was able to preach 
upon Isaiah 55 : 6-7. Here God had wrought, and the people 
appeared to be very lively. Thursday, 15, we came to Hebron. 
Brother Burroughs attended me. The travelling preachers 
cannot leave their appointments. At four o'clock in the even- 
ing our new house in Hebron was consecrated : the subject, on 
this occasion, was chosen from Exod. 20 : 24. It was an open 
time. Saturday, 17, and Sunday, 18, vt^e held a Quarterly 
Meeting for Litchfield circuit. The Sabbath day congregation 
was small, owing to the rain after the great heat. I spoke from 
2 Thess. 3:1. We had feeling times and hearts, and a living 
Love Feast. In heat and in haste, we rode on to Colonel Bur- 
rell's, in Canaan, and there lodged." 

By Tuesday, they had reached the homestead of Garrettson, 
at Rhinebeck, " where I make up," he writes, " four thousand 
miles, and have one hundred in advance towards the fifth 
thousandth I shall have made since the last of July, 1801. Of 
the little time we have may be judged by the length of our 



CONFERENCES OF 1802. 173 

rides, day after day ; yet, at this speed must I go to meet the 
Conferences, and visit the principal societies. My soul is at 
times greatly drawn out in prayer." 

They continued at Rhinebeck two days, on one of which he 
preached a sermon, and ordained Hibbard, who was now travel- 
ling that circuit. "We rested," he writes, "at Traveller's 
Rest, upon the solitary banks of Hudson, with my dear friends, 
Freeborn Garrettson, and his prudent, pious wife." And on 
leaving them, he says, " I had to tear myself away from these 
precious souls ; I do believe God dwells in this house (Traveller's 
Rest)." 

He here again passes from our view, to pursue his southward 
route, as far as South Carolina, travelling and preaching in the 
same indefatigable manner which we have witnessed through 
his New England tour. 
15=^ 



CHAPTER Xy. 

APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHEKS. 

Appointments of the New York Conference. — Of the New England Conference. — Preach- 
ers. — Elias Vanderlip. — Alfred Metcalf. — Philip Hunger. — His early Life. — Appoint- 
ments. — Character. — Death. — Samuel Draper. — His Appointments. — Death. — Char- 
acter. — Humor of the early Methodist Preachers. — Its Cause. — Asa Kent. — His early 
History. — Anecdotes. — First Class at West Brookfield. — Appointments. — Character. 
— Samuel Hillman. — William Anson. 

The appointments in New England, for the year 1802-3, 
made by the New York Conference, were as follows : 

PiTTSFiELD District. Shadrach Bostwick, Presiding Elder. 
Pittsfield, Moses Morgan and Elias Vanderlip ; Adams, Sam- 
uel Merwin ; Cambridge, Eogers Searle and Smith Arnold ; 
Brandon, Ebenezer Stevens and Joshua Crowell ; Vergennes, 
Elijah Chichester ; Fletcher, Henry Ryan and Elijah Hedding ; 
Gra7ide Isle, William Anson; Granville, Ebenezer Washburn. 

New London Distkict. Daniel Ostrander, Presidijig Elder. 
New London, Michael Coate and Aaron Hunt ; Tolland, Elijah 
Batchelor and Alexander McLane ; Pmnfret, John Nichols and 
Samuel Gorsline ; Wilbraham, Augustus Jocelyn ; Chesterfield^ 
John Gove and Nathan Felch ; Whittingham, Elijah Ward and 
Asa Kent ; Athens, Henry Eames. 

Vershire District. John Brodhead, Presiding Elder. 
Vershire, Solomon Langdon and Paul Dustin ; Landaff, Phineas 
Peck and Martin Ruter ; Lunenburg, Thomas Branch ; Hanover ^ 
Oliver Beale and Thomas Steele ; Bridgewater, Reuben Jones ; 
Wethersfield, Samuel Draper, Thomas Carpenter ; WoodstocJcj 
Truman Bishop ; Barnard, Joseph Crawford. 

There were also, under the Presiding Eldership of Freeborn 
Garrettson, on the New York district, Redding, James Coleman 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 175 

and Isaac Candee ; Litchfield^ James Campbell and Luman 
Andrus ; Middletown, Abner Wood and James Ann is. 

The appointments made by the New England Conference 
were the following : 

Boston District. Joshua Taylor, Presiding Elder. Boston 
and Lynn^ Thomas Lyell and John Bloodgood; Marblehead, 
Epaphras Kibby; Provincetown, Edward Whittle; Sandwich, 
David Bachelor; Nantucket, Joseph Shane ; Greenwich and 
Warren, Reuben Hubbard, Caleb Morris, Allen H. Cobb ; Need- 
ham, Joshua Soule, Daniel Perry; Salisbury and Hawke, 
George Pickering and Daniel Webb ; East Kingston and Pop- 
lin, Thomas Ravlin and Orin Fairbank. 

Maine District. Ralph Williston, Presiding Elder. Fal- 
mouth, Asa Heath and Oliver Hall; Poland, Philip Munger; 
Bethel, Daniel Jones ; Readfield, Joseph Snelling and Samuel 
Hillman ; Halloivell, Comfort C. Smith and Aaron Humphrey ; 
Norridgewock, Nathan Emery, Nehemiah Coye ; Bath, Tim- 
othy Merritt and Joel Wicker ; Union, Joseph Baker and Daniel 
Ricker; Penx)bscot, Asa Heath; Union River, Alfred Metcalf 
and William Goodhue. 

The new ecclesiastical year commenced with 7?ye districts and 
part of a sixth ; forty-five circuits and stations, and eighty 
preachers. There had been a gain, during the preceding year, 
of 07ie district, twelve circuits, and tweyity-two preachers. The 
new district was called Vershire, and comprehended three New 
Hampshire and five Vermont circuits. 

We have been able to glean a few items of information respect- 
ing some of the preachers who received appointments this year 
for the first time. 

Of the early life of Elias Vanderlip we know nothing, 
except that while yet a young man he was converted in New 
York, and joined the M. E. church in that city. It is said that 
he was several years a useful local preacher, before he entered 
the travelling connection. He joined the New York Conference 
the present year, and was appointed to Pittsfield circuit, Mass. 
After travelling this large circuit, he was sent to Cambridge, N. 
Y., and thence, the following year, to the city of Albany. In 



176 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

1806 he located, but resumed his travels, the next year, on 
mister circuit, N. Y. The pecuniary provisions for the ministry 
were, as we have seen, entirely too limited, at that day, for the 
support of families. Mr. -Vanderlip's was large, and suffered 
such privations that he was compelled again to locate in 1808, 
and enter into secular business, for their maintenance and 
education. During thirty years he continued in a local relation 
to the ministry ; frequently laboring, meanwhile, in Albany and 
other places. " In 1838," say his brethren of the Troy Confer- 
ence, among whom he died, " he again offered himself to the 
Conference, not with a view to do the church much service, but 
he had a great desire to die in the travelling connection. He 
voluntarily pledged himself to make no claim on the funds of 
the Conference. He was, at this time, over seventy years of 
age. The Conference admitted him, because they considered 
his age and venerable appearance an honor to their body. He 
was appointed to travel on Johnstown circuit ; but such were 
his infirmities that he was obliged to retire from the work 
before the year closed. At the ensuing Conference, he took a 
supernumerary relation, and in 1840 was returned super- 
annuated." 

He continued on the superannuated list the remainder of his 
life. He is described as " a man of an excellent spirit, deeply 
pious, and very zealous. His talents as a preacher were respect- 
able. He always delighted to dwell on the love of Jesus, — the 
freeness and fulness of salvation. His address was always warm 
and affectionate ; and he was beloved by all who knew him. As 
he advanced in life, he seemed to grow in grace ; and when, 
through manifold infirmities, he could no longer serve the church- 
by any public labors, he still manifested a great interest in her 
prosperity. He was in a very happy state of mind for several 
years previous to his departure. He waited in joyful hope for 
his change to come, and used to say he was pluming his wings 
to take his flight. He died at the house of his son, in the city 
of Albany, Sept. 3, 1848, in the eighty-fourth year of his 

age." 

Alfred Metcalf was received into the travelling connection 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 177 

the present year.=^ He was bom in June, 1777, and converted 
in 1800. At the New England Conference of 1802, he 
was appointed to Union River circuit, Me. His subsequent 
circuits were, Falmouth, Me. ; Provincetown, Mass. ; Salem, 
N, H. ; Marblehead, Nantucket and Salisbury, Mass., and 
Portsmouth, N. H. He labored devotedly and successfully in 
those appointments, until his health failed, in 1810, when he 
located at Greenland, N. H. ; but continued to preach, as he was 
able, until 1835, at which time he was readmitted to the New 
Hampshire Conference, and appointed to Newington circuit. In 
1836 he was stationed at Exeter, N. H. This was his final 
appointment. His last sermon was delivered at Greenfield, 
November 17th, after which his health rapidly declined, until 
June 4th, 1837, when he ascended to the church triumphant. 
The Minutes of that year say, that "He loved the doctrines and 
discipline of the church to which he belonged, and maintained 
them , by precept and example, until death. As a minister, compan- 
ion, father and Christian, he felt a high sense of his responsibility, 
and well did he discharge the duties devolving on him in these 
several relations in life. His views in prospect of death were 
such as every faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ might 
expect. There was no anxiety manifested, at any time during 
his sickness, to recover, but a calm and cheerful resignation 
to the will of God. The doctrines which he had believed, and 
preached, and lived, he found abundant in their consolations. 
The night before he died, he was triumphant. When informed 
that he was dying, he pleasantly exclaimed, ' All is well — 
Christ is the hope of glory — God is with me ! ' and fell asleep." 
Philip Munger, who is still well remembered among our 
churches, especially in Maine, entered the travelling ministry 
the present year. He was born of Baptist parents, in South 
Brimfield, Mass., in the year 1780. At the age of sixteen he 
heard the pioneers of Methodism in that region, and was led by 
their ministrations to the experimental knowledge of religion. 
After continuing in fellowship with the little society of Ashburn- 
ham some five years, he was licensed as a local preacher in 

* Not in 1803, as his Obituary states, in the Minutes of 1837. 



178 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

1801, and was soon called out by the Presiding Elder to travel 
on the Ashburnham circuit, a large field of labor, comprehending 
about sixteen towns. Here he devoted himself for several 
months to preaching, and visiting from house to house, in the 
ardor of youthful zeal, " calling upon the people to ' acquaint 
themselves with God,' that "they might ' be at peace ; ' remind- 
ing them that ' there remained a rest to the people of God,' and 
urging them to ' enter in at the strait gate.' " ^ 

He was received into the Conference in Monmouth, Me., the 
present year, and travelled successively the following circuits 
and districts; namely, Poland, Penobscot and Falmouth, Me.; 
Provincetown, Mass. ; Barre, Vt. ; Marblehead, Mass. ; Conway, 
N. H. ; Boston, Ashburnham, Mass.; Tolland, Pomfret, Conn.; 
Nantucket, Mass. ; Harwich, Conn. ; Poplin, Rochester, N. H., 
and Readfield, Me. The remainder of his life was spent in the 
Maine Conference, at Livermore, Kennebec district, Vassalboro', 
Fairfield, Thomaston and Belfast, Orrington and Bucksport, 
Windsor, Wiscasset, Buxton and Gorham, Durham and La- 
fayette. 

In the year 1836, after about thirty-four years' faithful and 
arduous labors, during which he aided essentially in promoting 
Methodism in New England, he was compelled, by age and 
infirmities, to retire into the supernumerary ranks, and the fol- 
lowing year was returned among the " superannuated," where 
he continued some nine years. At the Maine Conference of 
1846, he again became effective, and was appointed to Wayne. 
It was somewhat doubtful whether he could sustain the labors 
of his new charge ; but he entered upon them with a devoted 
purpose to save, "as out of the fire," a few more souls, even if 
he should sacrifice himself in the endeavor. His health gave 
way ; and his long and honorable career ended on the 19th of 
the ensuing October. 

Like most of the primitive Methodist preachers, with whom 
the rules and example of Wesley had a predominant influence, 
Mr. Munger early adopted those habits of method, precision, 

* Rev. Geo. Webber, to whom we are indebted for most of the remaining facts of our 
sketch of Mr. Munger. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS, 179 

and uniformity, which seldom, or perhaps never, fail to charac- 
terize the whole individuality of the man who adheres to them, 
and to exalt even ordinary capacity above the level of medioc- 
rity. " He was of very studious habits, usually employing all 
his morning hours in reading and study, and his afternoons and 
evenings in visiting, preaching, and other pastoral labors. The 
result was, he was well read in theology in general, and with 
the theological writers of his own church, particularly, he was 
thoroughly acquainted. He wrote much, and left considerable 
in manuscript, upon various political and theological subjects. 
He uniformly preached twice, and often three times, on the Sab- 
bath ; and always, unless something very special interposed to 
prevent, he attended the social meetings of his charge, and was 
rigidly severe in the observance of the rule, ' Never disappoint 
a congregation ; ' often going miles, through storms and cold, to 
preach, when few or none would go to hear. From his private 
memorandum, it appears that, during his ministry, he preached 
about nine thousand sermons. His discourses were character- 
ized more by clearness and strength than by beauty and elegance 
of composition ; and his style of preaching was argumentative 
and convincing, rather than moving and persuasive. He was, 
however, an able preacher, and his sermons were both instructive 
and profitable. He was uncompromising in his love for the 
church of his choice, an able and fearless defender of her 
doctrines and polity, and a strenuous opposer of all that was 
erroneous in doctrine, as well as of all innovation in discipline. 
His one rule of action, in regard to all these things, was, ' Meth- 
odism as we received it from our fathers.' He ever seemed to 
live and labor under the abiding influence of the clause in his 
vow of ordination, ' Be diligent to banish and drive away all 
erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to the word of God ; ' 
and fully and faithfully did he execute his trust. He was a 
man of strict punctuality, — rarely, if ever, behind the time, either 
at a Sabbath service, lecture or Conference, — * doing everything 
at the time.' He was always at his post, and ready to do the 
bidding of the church. His fidelity to his trust was a striking 
trait in his character. Any matter intrusted to him was sure 



180 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

to receive prompt and faithful attention. No private or personal 
interest was permitted to prevent the faithful discharge of all 
such duties. This remark might receive ample illustration and 
support by a reference to his connection vv^ith several corpora- 
tions, as trustee, for many years, as well as to many other 
things in his history during his long connection with the Con- 
ference." 

Such habits are not only valuable on account of their practical 
advantages, but they usually have a decided moral effect on the 
temper of the man. Mr. Hunger is said to have maintained, in 
the intercourse of private life, a most affectionate and considerate 
demeanor. His mind was remarkable for its equanimity. A 
member of his family has affirmed, " I have no recollection of 
ever seeing him in a passion." His daily life was tranquilly 
uniform. He had little or nothing to say of trials, of alter- 
nations of religious enjoyment and depression; but his faith 
and spiritual hopes were unwavering. He was a man of much 
prayer, and " never failed, as he informed a friend, just before 
his death, to pray for each of his children, individually, every 
day, from the time of their birth ; and as the result, he had the 
unspeakable satisfaction of seeing, from time to time, one child 
after another brought to Christ, till, a few weeks before his 
death, at a camp-meeting, which he, in company with a daughter, 
attended, he had the inexpressible pleasure and privilege of 
rejoicing with and over her, the last remaining unconverted 
child, brought, at last, into the kingdom of Christ. For this he 
had ardently prayed during the meeting ; and though too unwell 
to remain on the ground with any comfort, or perhaps safety, 
and though frequently urged by his friends to leave, still, intent 
upon his object, he refused to leave till God had answered his 
prayer, and granted him this last desire of his heart. When 
this was obtained, he seemed ready to say, ' Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace.' He went home, and was out 
but little afterwards. He was taken sick while attending to his 
duty as a trustee of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, about the 
24th of August. From the first he had an abiding conviction 
that he should not recover. This he early expressed to his 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 181 

afflicted companion, remarking that he believed God was about 

to discharge him from his labors, and that, if it could be the 
Divine will, he would rather then depart and be with Christ ; 
adding, that to recover looked to him like going back again into 
a wilderness from which he was just emerging. He suffered 
much from his last sickness, but endured it all with Christian 
patience and fortitude, often remarking, that God had put him 
into the furnace of affliction that he might prepare him for his 
holiness. He suffered in the confidence that, 'when he was 
fully tried, he should come forth as pure gold.' And when the 
hour of his last conflict arrived, he found his faith equal to the 
struggle, and several times requested his friends that stood 
around his bed to raise up his cold and dying hands, in token 
of final victory ; and then, without a struggle or a groan, sweetly 
feU asleep in Jesus." 

Samuel Draper was born in Dover, N. Y., in the year 1776, 
and was one of the first fruits of Methodism in that town, being 
converted in the fifteenth year of his age. He joined the 
Itinerant ranks in 1801, and went immediately into Canada, to 
assist Joseph Jewell, Seth Crowell, Joseph Sawyer, and the 
other Itinerants, who were braving the exposures of that new 
country, for the sake of the Gospel. In 1802, he was sent to 
Wethersfield circuit, Vt., as colleague of Thomas Carpenter; 

1803, he was colleague of Oliver Beale, on Vershire circuit, Vt. ; 

1804, he travelled Fletcher circuit, Vt. ; 1805, Brandon, Vt., with 
Reuben Harris ; 1806, Vergennes, Vt. After thus laboring 
several years with the pioneers of Methodism in Vermont, he 
was sent, in 1807, to Plattsburg circuit, N. Y., which he trav- 
elled two years, and was then appointed to Saratoga, N. Y. ; in 
1810, he was on Cambridge circuit, N. Y., which brought him 
again into New England. The next year, he had charge of the 
Champlain district, one-half of which lay within Vermont. He 
superintended this large field till 1815, when he was appointed to 
the Ashgrove district, which also extended into New England. 
He continued to travel it during four years, directing the 
labors of Samuel Luckey, Daniel Ostrander, Laban Clark, 
Tobias Spicer, Phineas Rice, Noah Levings, and similar men. 

16 



182 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

In 1819 he was again on Cambridge circuit, N. Y. The next 
year he returned to New England, and travelled Brandon cir- 
cuit, Vt., two years. In 1822, he was, for the third time, 
appointed to Cambridge circuit, N. Y., where also he continued 
two years. His next and last appointment was Dutchess 
circuit, N. Y. He died at Amenia, N. Y., on the seventh of 
July, 1824, after laboring in the Itinerant ministry twenty-three 
years. His last illness suddenly assumed a dangerous aspect, 
and it was judged desirable to have medical counsel in his case. 
" But before any was obtained, he sunk down in the arms of 
death, unexpectedly to his physician, and the family where he 
was, and, probably, to himself. He was near two hundred miles 
from his family, who were ignorant of the event ; and the people 
on the circuit successively assembled at his several appoint- 
ments, anxiously looking for their new preacher, little thinking 
that he whom they expected to declare to them the word of life 
was in the eternal world. His principal concern, during his 
sickness, was about his circuit." "^ 

Samuel Draper was a useful preacher, and bore faithfully his 
part of the heaviest labors of our cause, in the day of its strug- 
gles. Many were converted through his instrumentality. He 
was characterized, if not injured in his usefulness, however, by 
an excess of that trait of humor which distinguished not a few 
of the early members of our ministry. The way-faring lives of 
our primitive preachers brought them into communication with 
all classes of men, and all varieties of life ; they were made 
thoroughly acquainted with human nature, for they had the 
widest range for its observation. Men, under such circum- 
stances, are usually found inclined to humorous views of life. 
The peculiarly adventurous and heroic character of the Itiner- 
ancy attracted to it men of strong originality and enthusiasm. 
Unique characters, in whatever their peculiarity may consist, 
have generally, in more or less development, a common trait 
of the ludicrous, or of quaintness. It would seem that nature, 
to secure them from too rigorous an individuality, would ally 
them by the sympathy of humor, at least, to the general mass ; 

*Meth. Mag., 1824. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 183 

and no predisposition abides more tenaciously than this, even 
when religion imparts its holier sympathies. Perhaps no con- 
temporary class of men presented more striking examples of 
orginality than the first Methodist preachers ; among them 
were the greatest evangelists, the greatest heroes, and the great- 
est v/its, of their day, — anomalous examples of the coexistence 
of self-sacrificing piety and habitual humor. Their mode of 
life, mixing them with all varieties of human nature, could not 
fail to impart to them, as a class, a characteristic bonhommie ; 
but, in not a few instances, this good-nature degenerated into 
inveterate pleasantry, if not jocularity, and impaired their useful- 
ness. Samuel Draper, with his unquestionable devotion, was 
an example of this infirmity. His fellow-laborers admit the fact, 
kindly, but frankly, in their record of his death, and, " for two 
reasons : first, to make their account of him impartial ; secondly, 
to warn young ministers of the dangers of such indulgence." 
"But," they add, " whatever imperfections may have attached 
to him as a man, as a minister hundreds will have cause to 
rejoice that they ever heard his voice ;" an admission which, we 
suppose, most of our readers will deem a redeeming offset to an 
infirmity so venial, and in a veteran of such self-sacrificing 
devotion. 

Asa Kent still survives among us — a venerable Elder in 
the gates of our Israel. He was blessed with a devout mother, 
to whose prayers and early lessons he ascribes his first religious 
inclinations. She was one of three praying women, who were 
in the habit of meeting at each other's houses, in W. Brookfield, 
Mass., to supplicate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in that 
period of religious declension and indifference which preceded 
the introduction of Methodism into New England.^^ She con- 
secrated her son to God, from the womb. " After I had been 
an Itinerant some years," he says,t " she requested me to urge 
upon parents the duty of praying for their children, and holding 

*Two of these ladies belonged to the little praying band, mentioned in Reed anfl 
Mathewson's visit to the United States, as instrumental in the revival of evangelica" 
religion in Boston, after the Unitarian declension of the metropolitan churches j fo 
about thirty years, prayer-meetings were privately sustained by them, in the city. 

t Letter to the author. 



184 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

them upon the altar (as she expressed it) until they are converted. 
And, to help my faith, she would mention some incidents in my 
past history. She was, before my birth, deeply affected by read- 
ing Hannah's prayer, when she asked for a child that she might 
dedicate him to God. She consulted her two advisers, and they 
encouraged her faith, and agreed to help by their prayers. 
They were with her at the birth of her child, May 9th, 1780, 
and rejoiced with her, and exhorted her to hold fast the promise ; 
for they believed the Lord had given them a promise that the 
child should live, and be a preacher of the Gospel. When he was 
about eight years of age, he had a fever, depriving him of 
reason, and his life was despaired of. The parish minister was 
sent for, who endeavored to prepare the parents for the stroke, 
which seemed inevitable. He prayed, while the mother's heart 
was full, though fixed on the Lord, and with a steady hand she 
held fast the promise. An aunt, sitting by him, said, ' I think 
he is dying.' Quick as lightning, it was suggested to the 
mother, ' If he dies, what will you think of all your prayers ? ' 
This was a fiery dart, and it struck deep into her soul. She 
threw herself upon her knees, in retirement, and seemed dumb 
with agony ; but the words of David occurred to her, ' Remember 
the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to 
hope.' She made this her only prayer, repeating it again and 
again. The conflict was short ; a whisper, ' He shall not die,^ 
soothed her troubled spirit ; wiping her tears, she came in, say- 
ing, ' He will not die.' He soon opened his eyes ; the crisis 
was past, and he recovered. Surely, that faith was of ' the 
operation of God,' which enabled her to rely with so much con- 
fidence upon him who hears prayer. The depravity of childhood, 
and v»raywardness of youth, often led her in importunate prayer, 
to get the promise renewed; and then, in the rejoicings of hope, 
she would say to herself, ' Whatsoever I now sufTer by his 
means, I shall be more than compensated when he becomes a 
preacher of the Gospel.' She never dreamed that he would 
preach, until he had first been to college. No way opened for 
this, but she left all with the Lord." 

The means of the fulfilment of her prayer were provided, but 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 185 

very differently from her anticipations. In 1798, two Methodist 
preachers, being overtaken by a shower, stopped at the house of 
a widow lady (Mrs. Crowell) in the village. As was their wont, 
they conversed, during their delay, on religious subjects, and 
prayed, and sung some of the beautiful lyrics of Charles Wesley. 
One of these Itinerants was Elijah Bachelor; he promised to 
preach on his return, if a place were provided for a congregation. 
The good lady of the house, impressed and delighted with the 
devotions of the preachers, was disposed to comply with their 
proposition ; but apprehending that her pastor would be offended 
if she opened her own door for such a service, she consulted Mrs. 
Kent. The latter had heard of the Methodists, and, thinking that 
they might be instrumental in the conversion of her children, 
who seemed not to be much impressed by the customary preach- 
ing of the village, she seized the opportunity as providential, 
and procured the use of a friend's house, some three miles dis- 
tant, which had been occasionally opened to Baptist preachers. 
Mr. Bachelor arrived in due time, and thus introduced Meth- 
odism into that section of the country. On a second visit, 
young Kent was urged by his mother to attend ; but he resisted 
her request, as he shared the common contempt against the 
" new sect everywhere spoken against," and felt deeply morti- 
fied that his mother should show so much interest for it. Her 
intercessions prevailed, however, at last, and he started for the 
place of meeting. "After urging his footsteps about a mile, he 
seemed to be inexcusably sluggish, and fearing the meeting 
would be begun, he set upon the run ; was in a profuse sweat, 
and when nearly there the blood started from his nose ; he 
stopped, and found himself almost out of breath. He washed 
away the blood at the brook, and went into the kitchen, which 
was full of young people, who were in a lively, social mood. A 
door opened, and a tall, well-dressed man entered, with a sharp 
eye, and solemn countenance. All was silent, and the solemn 
tones of his voice thrilled through the heart. He sung his 
hymn, and charmed the assembly, who were astonished at see- 
ing him kneel down upon the floor, where he prayed as if he 
had intercourse with heaven. His text was Heb. 2:3, — ' How 
16# 



186 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

shall we escape,' &c. He spake of the great salvation, of the 
neglectors of it, and their ruin, while this son of many prayers 
trembled and wept. Yes, then and there, he resolved to seek 
the salvation of his soul ; and even then it was deeply impressed 
upon his mind that he would be a Methodist preacher. Return- 
ing home, some tried to raise a laugh ; but he was mute, with a 
heavy heart. He had vowed to the Lord, and dared not go back ; 
but determined to keep it to himself, as he knew of no one dis- 
posed to unite with him. But he was soon suspected to be 
inclined to religion, and he avowed his determination, rather than 
deny the charge. Kindness and entreaty were tried in vain to 
deter him from Methodist meetings ; both old and young seemed 
deeply concerned for him. He concluded, if he could get one, 
a lad about his years, — a twin soul, — to go with him, he would 
give up all the rest, rather than neglect religion. He informed 
the lad, and urged him to seek salvation with him ; but in vain. 
He said. We shall be laughed at ; we are too young; and he, in 
turn, advised his friend to give up the idea for the present. 
Thus four or five months passed, and all seemed dark ; he was 
attending school, where vanity abounded ; and his resolutions 
became less firm, and it seemed doubtful if he could hold out." 
His religious interest, nevertheless, deepened ; he became so 
concerned for his spiritual welfare, that he at last abandoned the 
recreations of his associates. He resorted to a respectable Chris- 
tian neighbor for counsel ; but this good Calvinist addressed the 
anxious-minded youth only with reproaches of the people to 
whom the latter owed his best religious convictions. He 
expressed no doubt that " they were the false teachers spoken of 
by Christ — wolves in sheep's clothing. They crept into houses 
in the outskirts of the town, where they had more hope to 
deceive the people ; and, if it were possible, they would deceive 
the very elect. He added, * I am so sure that the devil has sent 
them, that I would as soon hear the devi] preach, in bodily shape, 
as to hear one of them,' &c." This is but a specimen of the 
homily which he applied to the poor heart-stricken youth, for 
the edification of the young people present, who listened with 
breathless silence. " Young Kent at first seemed thunder-struck, 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 187 

wholly taken by surprise ; but, recovering, said, * I feel the need 
of religion, and would not be deceived ; I want the religion of 
the Bible, that will save the soul. Will you be so good as to 
tell me how I may obtain true religion ? ' Here he paused ; but 
finally advised him to attend the parish pastor's meeting, and do 
as he directed. He replied that he constantly heard him preach, 
but the Methodists were more particular on this point. He 
became more calm, and finally said, that if the Methodists would 
call on the pastor, and he would introduce them into his pulpit, 
he would like very well to hear them. The youth thought he 
must be a strange sort of a Christian, to like very well to hear 
the devil preach, if he were only in the regular pulpit. But he 
was deeply distressed by what was said, and gave up all hope 
of being benefited by lifeless professors of religion. During all 
this time, he heard a Methodist preach once in three weeks, but 
had not confidence to tell him the exercises of his mind; nor 
could he feel much freedom to tell his mother, though she often 
spoke to him on the subject. There was a Quarterly Meeting 
in Brimfield, May 18 and 19, 1799, about eight miles distant. 
He went, in hope to obtain religion. The Presiding Elder, 
Shadrach Bostwick, was at his father's on Friday, and knew his 
state of mind. On Saturday, on Rom. 12 : 2, he spake of the 
transforming power of the Holy Ghost to renew the soul, &c. ; 
and he cried out, ' Jesus is on his way to renew the soul of the 
broken-hearted penitent, — is ready to do it now ; give him your 
heart as it is, and salvation is yours ! ' The trembling penitent 
was in agony, his face burning in his kerchief, as he supposed 
he was the one addressed. Turning his mind upward, by faith 
he saw, as it were, Jesus coming with infinite swiftness, with 
love and pity in his countenance. That moment he felt an 
indescribable power to cast all his cares upon Christ, with perfect 
ease, and all was calm within. Now he hoped he should have 
religion before the meeting ended. The Love Feast was refresh- 
ing ; he wanted to speak, but could not say he had religion. 
For some weeks he was comforted ; but doubts and fears came 
on, and he knew not what to do. He had lost his conviction, and 
could not weep, and did not suppose a Christian ever felt so. 



188 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

One day, going to his work, breathing oat his soul in prayer, he 
said, ' O, that I knew whether I am a Christian or not ! ' It was 
suggested to his mind as distinctly as if one had spoken, ' Do 
just as you would if you knew you was a Christian.' He 
stopped in amazement, saying to himself, ' That will not do; for if 
1 am not a Christian I should be acting the hypocrite.' But it 
turned in his mind, 'What is the duty of a Christian ? To deny 
self, take up the cross and follow Jesus; and surely this I ought 
to do as well as I can. Christian or no Christian; and, by the 
grace of God, I will do it, and trust the issue with the Lord.' 
This decision greatly relieved his mind from suspense; the 
clouds dispersed, the true light shined, and peace soothed his 
troubled heart." 

In the autumn of 1799, Brookfield was connected with Pom- 
fret circuit, then travelled by the devoted and zealous WiUiam 
Thatcher. =^ The religious interest, begun by the labors of Eli- 
jah Bachelor, had somewhat extended, and several promising 
youth of the village had shared in it, among whom, Asa Kent 
and Joshua Crowell, the son of the widow who had first wel- 
comed the Itinerants, were most active. Mr. Thatcher appointed 
them to conduct a prayer-meeting for the benefit of serious 
inquirers, during his absence on the circuit. In this manner did 
both these young men begin their ministerial career. 

On the seventh of Jan., 1800, Mr. Thatcher organized the 
first Methodist society of Brookfield. " He formed," writes Mr. 
Kent, "a class of seven youths, Joshua and David Crowell, 
Daniel, Asa, and Polly Kent, Hosea and Elizabeth Leonard. 
Daniel had been brought, within a few weeks, to unite with us, 
by a very singular providence. The next time he came, Seth 
and Eunice Eddy, Darius and Phebe Eaton, and D. Leonard, 
joined. ' Now,' said Bro. Thatcher, ' we have twelve ; which 
will be Peter, — which Judas?' — 'Lord, is it I?' was the response. 
Our prayer-meetings were more fully attended, and Isaac Bon- 
ney was there to hear the young disciples pray; his heart was 
smitten, and he joined the class in March, with some others, and 
great was the consolation. The four young men who first 

* See a sketch of him, in the Mem. of the Introduction of Methodism, &c. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHEKS. 189 

joined have since been recognized as preachers of the Gospel ; 
and also Isaac Bonney, who joined about two months after." 

Of the manner in which Mr. Kent began to preach, he has 
given us the following account : "I had been greatly exercised 
in mind about preaching; and in the spring of 1801 received 
license to exhort, and after much persuasion, consented to have a 
meeting in Pelham on the Sabbath. I had prayed, if it were my 
duty to preach, I might have great freedom ; and if not, I might 
be shut up, and that this meeting might decide the matter. The 
rain on Saturday prevented my going. On Sunday I found a 
crowd. With fear and trembling I began. I had nearly forgotten 
to pray, being so agitated, but read a chapter and talked of its 
contents. I got through two exercises, and though they urged 
me to come again, I went home satisfied it was not my duty, 
for I had not felt freedom in speaking. I was mortified for what 
I supposed a failure, yet thankful that the matter was now 
decided. For nearly a week I was very contented, but was led 
to review the whole ; I saw I did not go with a pure intention to 
glorify God and benefit souls, but to experiment, by observing 
my own exercises, and inferring my duty from them. I was 
ashamed of that experiment ; went again, in the name of the 
Lord of hosts, and was greatly comforted while speaking of his 
love. In October, I commenced travelling on Wethersfield cir- 
cuit, Vt., John Nichols in charge. I staid till February, 1802, 
when the Presiding Elder, J. Brodhead, directed me to go to 
LandafT circuit, 150 miles, as its preacher was sick. I had 
travelled more than three months, and had not obtained even 
my travelling expenses. I got to LandafT just after the Quar- 
terly Meeting, so that I must wait another quarter before I 
could have aid, as the collections were taken quarterly. At the 
Quarterly Meeting, April 17 and 18, I received my travelling 
expenses from the time I left for that circuit, and also eight dol- 
lars quarterage. I was directed to stay until I received my 
appointment from Conference. I begged to go home ; but the 
Presiding Elder said, ' You travel with so much reluctance, if 
you go home now, I am afraid you will not start again.' — I said, 
♦I cannot see it to be my duty.' — 'Well, I will tell you how you 



190 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

may see it your duty ; preach, and make another appointment in 
two weeks all round the circuit, and you will feel it your duty 
to be there.' So I submitted, as a son in the Gospel. I received 
word from Conference, hasted home, and arrived July 8. I had 
been absent near nine months, and had hardly received my trav- 
elling expenses ; but dared not let my father's family know how 
I had fared. I was now sent to Whittingham circuit. I had 
taken the measles on my way home, and was very sick ; when 
nearly recovered, D. Ostrander, the Presiding Elder, took me 
to Tolland circuit, to take the place of E. Bachelor, who was 
sick. I staid there till Nov. 8th, and received $12.83 ; poor 
encouragement, so far as money was concerned. My clothes 
were worn thread-bare — entirely out — after more than a year's 
travel, and I had been obliged to borrow money to get along, 
besides giving my note for my horse ; but faith in God would 
gain the victory. 1 did not estimate my preaching very highly, 
and often felt as though the people were not half paid for coming 
to meeting. We had glorious revivals on Whittingham circuit ; 
my colleague was Elijah Ward." 

Mr. Kent had thus fully entered upon that laborious and self- 
denying career of Itinerant preaching which he has pursued 
with unwavering steadfastness for half a century. His subse- 
quent appointments were, in 1803, Barnard, Vt., where, during the 
winter, Lewis Bates, then a stalwart youth, was sent to his help ; 
1804, Athens, Vt. ; 1805, Lunenburg circuit, Vt., which extended 
into Canada, and where he travelled alone for some time, until 
assisted by Eleazer Wells, who began his ministerial career on 
this circuit; 1806, Athens, Vt., then a large four-weeks' circuit, 
from which two of his assistants successively retreated, discour- 
aged at the privations and difficulties of the Itinerant life. In 
1807, he was sent to Ashburnham circuit, Mass., where he was 
seized with fever, and disabled from his labors. The following 
year he was returned on the supernumerary list, and was so 
reduced in health that his friends supposed his public career to 
be ended; but in 1809 he resumed his travels, on Poplin circuit, 
with Edward Hyde and D. Wentworth as colleagues. He was 
continued on the same circuit the next year, with R. Sabin and 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 191 

J. Jewell, who then began with him their ministry. In 1811, he 
was at Lynn, Mass; 1812 and 1813, Bristol, R. I. ; 1814, on 
New London district, which he travelled four years ; 1818 and 
1819, New London; 1820 and 1821, Nantucket. His health 
again sunk under his labors, and in 1812 he was reported super- 
annuated. Having removed to Middleboro', Mass., where, by 
his occasional labors, he was instrumental in an extensive reform- 
ation, he was continued there through 1824 and 1825, and 
founded the Methodist society of that town. The next two 
years he spent in Providence city, and 1828 in New Bedford, 
where he continued in poor health till 1832, when he was 
appointed to Newport. The following two years he labored at 
Charlestown, Mass. In 1836, he was at Andover ; and in 1837 
and 1838, at Edgartown, where he closed his effective services. 
He was placed upon the superannuated list in 1839, and has 
since resided in New Bedford, laboring in the church as his 
advanced age and infirmities have permitted him. 

Asa Kent is small in person, uniformly serious in his demeanor, 
thoroughly Methodistical in his predilections, clear and precise 
and very experimental in his preaching. His conversation is 
almost invariably of the church and Divine things. An early 
experience of the blessing of sanctification, as taught by the 
fathers of Methodism, has thoroughly imbued and marked his 
character. His judgment is remarkably sound, and his faculties 
vigorous, notwithstanding his infirm age. " As to usefulness," 
he writes, " I say little ; but I will say, I have found favor 
with the people where I have labored. I have professed to act 
with a good intention, and I think they have believed me sincere. 
This was all I have claimed of them as to my conduct. I have 
no trouble about being slighted ; but verily believe I am 
treated with more respect than I deserve. It grieves me when 
people have alluded to my usefulness, as I awfully fear they 
overrate it. I feel I have no enemy, and surely would not 
indulge enmity towards any one. I am greatly indebted to grace 
for what I am. I believe the Lord cleansed my soul from sin 
more than forty years ago. I have not steadily enjoyed the 
witness of it ; but, for nearly that time, have seen no terrors in 



192 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

death or the grave. The doctrine of holiness is my comfort and 
joy, and I hope, through mercy, to dwell with God forever, as a 
sinner saved by grace ; even so. Amen." 

Samuel Hillman is another venerable name, which appears 
for the first time in the Minutes of this year. He was a native 
of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., but, when quite a youth, removed 
to Livermore, Me. It is said that he was converted to God in 
1793, while alone, during a violent thunder-storm in the wilder- 
ness, two miles from any habitation. He had not seen a 
Methodist at this time, — but the next year he heard Jesse Lee, 
who, in his tireless evangelical travels, penetrated to Livermore, 
Me. Mr. Hillman's Christian experience was correspondent 
with the doctrines preached by the great Methodist pioneer, and 
he embraced them heartily and at once. He united with the 
young Class at Livermore. In 1796 he received license as a 
local preacher, and in 1802 was admitted on trial at the New 
England Conference. His appointments were, in 1802, Read- 
field circuit, with Joseph Snelling ; 1803, Hallowell, with Aaron 
Humphrey; 1804, Bristol ; 1805 and 1806, Union, with Pliny 
Brett; 1807, Falmouth ; 1808, Scarboro'; 1809, Poland; 1810, 
Livermore, with John Hardy ; 1811 and 1812, Hallowell ; 1813, 
Pittstown ; 1814, Readfield ; 1815, Livermore. All his appoint- 
ments were within the State of Maine. In 1816, he located at 
Monmouth, where he continued to labor faithfully, as his oppor- 
tunities admitted. 

We have been unable to learn any further incidents of his 
early life. He left no record of it, and expressed a wish that 
nothing should be said of him " more than that he was an 
unprofitable servant." " Since 1840, he has been able to do but 
little, in consequence of a fall, which fractured his hip. He has 
preached occasionally, particularly on funeral occasions, for which 
he possessed a very good gift. Since he has lived in Monmouth, 
he has preached about two hundred funeral sermons. Since his 
confinement in consequence of his lameness, he has read the 
Bible through more than seventy times, besides a vast amount 
of other reading. Perhaps there is no man among us who has 
kept himself better informed on the more interesting subjects 



APPOINTMENTS AND PPvEACHERS. 19^ 

connected with church and state. Much might be said of him. 
He was a man of integrity and uniform piety. Death found his 
victim prepared; — his end was peace." =^ 

William Anson, who entered the Eastern States the present 
year, did heroic service in the church in Canada, New York and 
New England ; but scarcely any information respecting him has 
been recorded, and we are entirely ignorant of his parentage, early 
life, conversion, and even the place and date of his birth. He 
joined the travelling connection in 1800, and went to labor and 
suffer with Jewell, Sawyer and their few associates, in the wilds 
of Canada, where he continued two years. In 1802 he returned 
to the States, and was sent to plant Methodism on Grand Isle 
(Vt.), in Lake Champlain. Here his word was in demonstration 
of the Spirit and of power. An extraordinary religious interest 
prevailed throughout the island; and he reported, at the end of 
the year, more than a hundred members of the church.t In 1803 
he labored on Vergennes circuit, Vt. ; the next year he returned 
to Canada. In 1805, he travelled Pittsfield circuit, Mass.,t and 
in 1806, South Britain. The next year he took charge of the 
Ashgrove district, and superintended during four years the labors 
of Samuel Draper, Lewis Pease, Marvin Richardson, Phineas 
Ricej Tobias Spicer, Aaron Scholefield, John Finnegan, and 
other strong men. A large portion of his district lay within 
Now England. At the expiration of his term of service he was 
transferred to the Rhinebeck district, which, at that time, might 
be called a New England district, as all its circuits, save one, 
bore New England names. It extended from Rhinebeck, on the 
Hudson, to New Haven, on Long Island Sound. During his super- 
intendency of this large field of labor, he commanded a powerful 
corps of New England preachers, among whom were Hibbard, 
Culver, Draper, Coleman, Scholefield, Hunt, &;c. His subse- 
quent appointments were, in 1812 and 1813, Dutchess ; 1814 and 
1815, Rhinebeck ; 1816 and 1817, Saratoga ; 1818 and 1819, 
Pittstown; 1820 and 1821, Chatham, — all in N, Y. ; and 1822, 
Pittsfield, Mass. 

* Eev. Rufus Day to the author, t Bangs' Hist, of M. E. Church. Anno 1802. 
: Not in 1806, as stated in the Obituary of the Minutes of 1849. 

17 



194 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

In 1823, he was compelled by his enfeebled health to retire 
from effective service, and was returned supernumerary. He 
sought repose on his farm, at Malta, Saratoga County, N.Y. In 
the spring of 1847, he was attacked by paralysis, and rapidly 
declined in body and mind, until he entered into the heavenly 
rest, on the 17th of July, 1848. He joined the Itinerant min- 
istry when it was beset with privations and imposed labors which 
tried the souls of the bravest men. •' He had his full share of 
hardships," say his co-laborers ; " but never flinched." He was 
the pioneer of Methodism in many places, and carried the 
proclamation of free salvation into the wildernesses of Vermont, 
northern New York and Canada, and often from house to house. 
His piety is pronounced "undoubted," his integrity "sterling," 
and his talents " respectable." " He was laborious and useful, 
and his preaching plain and powerful." The name of such a 
man should not be allowed to perish. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PROGRESS AND INCIDENTS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 

1802-1803. 

Camp-meetings. — Remarkable Scenes on the Connecticut. — Letter from Ostrander. — 
Phenomena. — Livermore, Me. — Kibby at Marblehead. — Ebenezer Washburn. — Trials 
at Springfield. — Asa Kent on Landaff Circuit. — Persecutions. — Successes. 

The year was prosperous, though not so generally as the pre- 
ceding one. Some remarkable reformations occurred in various 
parts of New England. Middletown circuit, Ct., was especially 
the scene of great interest. About two years previous to the 
present period, camp-meetings were introduced in the Western 
States. Though liable to many objections, they were found to 
be capable of judicious management, and of exceeding usefulness. 
Extraordinary revivals had resulted from them, and it was 
alleged that their novelty attracted a class of hearers who would 
not come within the reach of the ordinary means of religious 
influence, while their protracted exercises, usually extending 
through a week, left permanent impressions on minds which 
were too unsusceptible to be impressed by the usual appeals of 
religion. 

The preachers on Middletown circuit, after prayer and con- 
sultation, resolved to attempt the experiment of such a meeting 
in the town of Haddam. Daniel Ostrander, who travelled at 
that time the adjacent New London district, wrote to Asbury 
respecting its results, as follows : " There has been an extraor- 
dinary work in the city of Middletown. It began at a kind of 
field-meeting they had on that circuit, in September last. As it 
was down Connecticut river, about fifty went from MiddletOAvn 
by water. Some of them were awakened at the meeting, and 
eight or nine were converted on their return, before they got 
home. The city was soon alarmed, and from that time the 



196 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

work began to spread. About forty, it is supposed, were brought 
to the saving knowledge of the Lord in about six weeks. The 
spirit of persecution is much awake. The houses where they 
assemble are frequently stoned, and the windows broken to pieces ; 
but all this does not move the young converts, who are as bold 
as lions." 

There still lives a venerable man who was at this camp or 
" field meeting," and who, like most of the old Methodists that 
survive from those days of the trials and triumphs of their cause, 
fondly cherishes, in an extreme old age, his early religious 
reminiscences.^^ Dating from " Pilgrim's Tent, on the Banks 
of Jordan," he writes, " I was invited to attend, and aid the 
preachers in their labors at this meeting. When I arrived at the 
place appointed, I found a stand erected in the centre of a level 
piece of ground, with seats for about one hundred persons. 
There were no tents, no trees, and no covering from the sun, 
wind or rain, and no preachers but those of Middletown circuit. 
I was told that invitations had been given to the preachers on 
other circuits, but without effect. A vessel had arrived from 
Middletown, with a full freight of saints and sinners. There was, 
the first day, fine weather ; a large congregation assembled, and 
the exercises commenced at ten o'clock, a. m. The stand was 
surrounded by a motley multitude of human beings, of all 
colors and characters, — red, black, white, — rich poor, lame, 
blind, — doctors, lawyers, and ministers, — Congregationalists, 
Baptists, Churchmen, Methodists, and some Deists. The mul- 
titude were attentive to two sermons delivered from the stand, 
and many stirring exhortations by private members of our 
societies. God was with us, and some convictions were evident 
during the day. As we had no tents, we retired to houses, 
barns, and on shipboard, and held prayer-meetings during the 
night. On the next day we assembled at the stand, and again 
preached, to an increased congregation. God gave effect to his 
word, and many were pricked in the heart, and began to say, 

*Mr. 3". Stocking, of Glastenbury, Ct., an aged local preacher. Mr. Stocking's 
memory errs, in the document from which we quote, respecting the precise date of this 
first Methodist camp-meeting in New England. 



ETC., OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 197 

' Men and brethren, what must we do to be saved ?' At about 
three o'clock, p. m., it commenced raining, which drove us from 
the field, to houses and barns — but not from our work. The 
greater part of the congregation took shelter in the house nearest 
the stand, which was filled to overflowing. To remedy the con- 
fusion occasioned by the crowd, the mourners were placed in a 
room by themselves, only attended by such as labored for their 
salvation. I visited the rooms, and found work enough to do. 
I found a doctor of medicine railing against the work, by represent- 
ing the case of a female who lay helpless on a bed. I requested 
him to examine her condition. He did so, and determined her to 
be in health, acknowledging he could not account for the state 
of her body on natural principles. The doctor was afterward 
silent and thoughtful. I visited another room, and found a 
doctor of divinity disputing with the people. I gave him a short 
rebuke, and he was quiet for a while. I called the people to 
order, and addressed them from ' Let all things be done decently 
and in order.' The people were now quite orderly and prepared 
to hear. The preacher in charge followed in a most powerful 
exhortation. During this exhortation occurred such a manifesta- 
tion of the power of God as I had never seen in the same form. 
It was as if a large cannon charged with grape-shot were dis- 
charged through the congregation in a direction from north 
to south, when instantly about one-third fell to the floor on a 
I: le through the centre, and those on either side trembled and 
held by the walls. The above-mentioned doctor of divinity fled out 
of the house into the rain, and after recovering himself, came back 
into the house. The following was a sleepless night ; many found 
the pearl of great price, and thanked God while they lived for 
this field-meeting. The next day the meeting broke up, and all 
returned to their respective homes. The vessel from Middle- 
town, on her return, had to pass four villages ; and had a ship 
of war passed up the Connecticut, it would not have produced a 
greater sensation among the villagers. It was, indeed, a novel 
scene. The vessel was freighted with living souls, and many 
of them had been made alive at the field-meeting. But some 
were still groaning for deliverance, so that, as the vessel passed 
17^ 



198 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the villages^ the songs of praise to God, and the ardent prayers 
for mourners, echoed from the adjacent hills. No wonder the 
villagers were awake, for they had not seen it on this wise 
before. Indeed, the whole population seemed in waiting, — some 
on the banks of the river, some at their doors and windows, 
until the voices died away on the distant hills. On her arrival 
at Middletown, the whole city was moved, some with pity for 
the deluded people, others with indignation at the disturbers of 
the good citizens of Middletown, others with fear of ' whereunto 
this would grow.' The fruits of this meeting were the conver- 
sion of about thirty souls, and an increased confidence in the 
use of extraordinary means for the conversion of sinners. The 
Methodists suffered much persecution at Middletown, from the 
vicious part of the community. I have been stoned, and my 
life put in jeopardy, by the lawless mob. Open persecution 
continued there until put down by the strong arm of the law. 
Thanks to God, Middletown is renovated ! " 

The phenomena of the loss of self-control, mentioned in this 
extract, were not uncommon in those days. New England had 
been familiar vv^ith them also in the " Great Awakening," under 
Edwards. The pneumatologist, or psychologist, or perhaps 
the physiologist, m.ay hereafter throw some light upon them ; 
all that we can say of them at present is, that they seem to be 
the effect of overpowering moral emotions on the nervous system, 
that they have been remarkably uniform in whatever diversities 
of time or place, that they are followed by little or no physical 
injury, and indicate nothing more respecting the emotions which 
cause them than their intensity on the one hand, or a character- 
istic susceptibility on the other. They should certainly not be con- 
sidered an impeachment of religious feelings ; for it ought not to 
be surprising that the powerful influences of Divine truth should 
overwhelm the self-possession of some minds, and they not 
unfrequently strong minds in robust bodies. It may yet be dis- 
covered, that among the occult laws of our nature the Creator 
has secured an extraordinary susceptibility of moral impressions 
— a susceptibility of which these phenomena are the yet mys- 
terious manifestations. At least, these extraordinary effects 



PROGRESS, ETC. J OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 199 

seem to attend almost every very extraordinary period of 
religious interest."^ 

seph Snelling and his colleague, Samuel Hillman, had con- 



os 



siderable success, the present year, on Readfield circuit, in Maine, 
and formed societies which still survive. Mr. Snelling gives 
the following account of the origin of the church at Livermore : 
" We preached on the Sabbath at Monmouth, Readfield, Farm- 
ington, and Livermore. The last-mentioned place we found 
in a very dull state ; so much so that some of the preachers 
thought of giving up preaching there, or leaving it out of the 
circuit. But great is the wisdom and goodness of God ; the 
first time we preached there the spirit of the Lord was poured 
out upon the people, and a work of reformation commenced. 
At this time there were but two or three Methodists in the 
place ; but soon a church was organized, and some of the mosi; 
respectable people in the place joined it, among whom were Dea- 
con Livermore, his wife and daughter. This gentleman was 
formerly deacon of the Congregational church in Waltham, 
Mass. He moved from thence to the State of Maine, and pur- 
chased a township of land, which was called by his name. He 
was much respected and beloved by the people of the town, and 
his house was the stranger's home. The prospect was good gen- 
erally, but the greatest encouragement was at Livermore. This 
circuit was a four-weeks' circuit, and we had prayer-meetings 
and Class-meetings to attend to nearly every day in the week." 
Joshua Taylor, who was appointed the present year to Boston 
district, spent some time on the Maine district, after the Con- 
ference at Monmouth. About three months before the close of 
the ecclesiastical year, he wrote to Asbury as follows : " Vf e 
have at present som.e little revivals in several places. Boston, 

*" When Loyola commenced his sermon, a breathless silence reigned through the 
church; as he went on, there was perceptible a pressure toward the pulpit ; sighs soon 
became audible on every side; then these sighs swelled into sobs, and sobs into groans. 
Some fell on the pavement, as if lifeless. Once and again an obdurate offender — hither- 
to obdurate — pushed forward, threw himself at the feet of the preacher as he left the 
pulpit, and, with convulsive struggles, made a loud confession of his crimes. Men from 
every class of society, and not exclusive of dignified ecclesiastics, were numbered 
among these conquests oi preaching in earnest."— Isaac Taylor's " Loyola and Jesuit- 



200 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Lynn and Marblehead, have been favorably visited. At Boston, 
I think, there have been eighty added to the society — about 
forty at Lynn, and about thirty at Marblehead. This seems to 
us great doings in this part of the country ; but to you, who are 
accustomed to greater things, it must seem as nothing. Convic- 
tions among us, in some instances, have been lively and afFect- 
ing: but, in general, we are pretty still. May the time come 
quickly in which we shall see and feel more power ! I went 
once round the district of Maine, as you directed me, and I saw 
several conversions at Quarterly Meetings. Since I came from 
thence, I have been informed that the work is prospering. In 
Bristol, Union circuit. Brother Baker informs me, that one hun- 
dred and forty had been converted in less than three months. 
The work in Bristol has perhaps been more powerful than any 
heretofore experienced in the east. They have frequent instances 
of persons, who, after groaning for some time, under the power 
of conviction, rise in the congregation and give glory to God for 
pardoning love. Brother Baker writes, ' Last Tuesda}?- evening 
I had an appointment to preach in the school-house, but was 
agreeably disappointed. When I entered the house, it seemed 
like the gate of heaven. I never felt such power, such an awful, 
solemn sense of God, before, — a crowded assembly, all deeply 
engaged, — I began to pray, and felt my soul drawn almost to 
the third heaven. As soon as I had ended, one, who for some 
days had been on her knees almost half the time, arose, and 
shouted. Glory to God! Many cried aloud for pardon: and it 
was not long before another praised the Lord for pardoning love. 
Our meeting continued till late, and I suppose nine or ten were 
converted that happy night.' From Bristol, the fire appears to 
have spread into different parts of the circuit, so that backsliders 
are reclaimed, luke-warm professors quickened, and hardened 
sinners, in some instances, have fallen under the word, as if they 
had been shot. Could I once see such a work as this become 
general in New England, like Simeon of old, I could depart in 
peace." 

Epaphras Kibby labored successfully, but amidst severe trials, 
at Marblehead. Methodism was yet feeble and contemned in 



PROGRESS, ETC., OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 201 

that town, and religion generally depressed. Mr. Kibby estab- 
lished evening meetings, — especially evening prayer-meetings, 
a measure which was quite anomalous in the community. It 
occasioned general and contemptuous conversation ; but many 
were attracted to these meetings by their novelty, if not by bet- 
ter motives, and gracious results attended them. Numerous 
conversions followed. One of these was in the family of a citi- 
zen who took great offence at the faithful preacher, and threat- 
ened him with personal violence. The enraged man paced the 
side-walk of Mr. Kibby's lodgings, staff in hand, to inflict the 
menace. Mr. K. consulted with a friendly lawyer, who admon- 
ished him to leave the town, as his life was in danger. The 
reply of the preacher was befitting him: "Worthier men have 
died for the Gospel: lean die for it; I shall not desert my post." 
On returning, he met his persecutor in the street ; the preacher 
advanced calmly on his way, turning neither to the right nor the 
left ; his enemy cowered before his quiet courage, and passed 
on in silence, and no one thereafter dared to threaten the servant 
of the Lord. He pursued his work with increasing success ; 
the various religious denominations of the town became respect- 
ful, if not openly favorable, towards the small Methodist society; 
a salutary religious awakening prevailed, and Mr. K. had "the 
privilege of rejoicing over thirty or forty persons who were con- 
verted to God during the year." ^ 

Ebenezer Washburn labored this year on Granville circuit, 
Mass., with unusual success, and added to the societies more 
than one hundred members, notwithstanding continued hostility 
from the " standing order." The Methodists of those days were 
in many places persecuted even to fines, the seizure of their 
goods, and, sometimes, imprisonment by the dominant church. 
Mr. Washburn has recorded an example of the reckless manner 
in which they were occasionally treated by grave judges on the 
bench. " From the Conference of 1802, 1 was sent again to Gran- 
ville circuit, to travel and labor alone, the northern part of the 
circuit having been taken off to form Buckland circuit. I moved 
my family into West Springfield, where there was a small, but 

♦ MS. History of the M. E. Church in Marblehead, by Rev. E. Otheman. 



202 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

very loving and friendly society. In this parish, called Feeding 
Hills, the Congregationalists moved and repaired their meeting- 
house ; for which purpose they levied a tax of nearly three hun- 
dred dollars upon the Methodists. When I say Methodists, I 
mean to be understood both church members and certificate 
members. In this place we had the most of the latter. The 
tolerance of the law of Massachusetts, at that time, was such as 
to allow the Congregationalists to assess a tax against every 
ratable person in the parish, and to collect the money into the 
treasury of their society. Provision was made for the preachers 
of dissenting denominations (for they called all other denomina- 
tions dissenters, as much as the Established Church of England 
does) to go to the treasurer with a list of the names belonging to 
his society, and draw the money levied against those names out 
of the treasury. And if the treasurer refused to pay it over, it 
might be sued for, by, or in the name of, the preacher. These 
members had made application to the Presiding Elder, Brother 
Bostwick, for a preacher to be sent there to recover the money 
which had been collected by distraint upon their property; and I 
was sent there for that purpose. I first took legal counsel, and 
then went and made a demand of the money. The treasurer 
used me very politely, but said he acted as the servant of the 
society, and that his orders were not to pay it. I then took 
three witnesses with me, and made a second demand of the 
money, and left a written copy of the demand with the treasurer. 
Being still denied, I commenced legal process against the fourth 
parish of West Springfield, and employed as counsel a lawyer 
by the name of Taylor, of Northampton. I proved in court that 
we were a regularly organized society, and that all the money 
we demanded had been collected by taking property and selling 
it at the post ; that the men from whom the money was taken had 
lodged their certificates in the office of the society's clerk, before 
the tax was voted to be raised. I also proved, by the testimony 
of Brother Bostwick, that I was a regular ordained preacher in 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and that I was appointed to the 
charge of that circuit, by the proper authorities of the church. 
But, after all, the court of justice, so called, gave judgment 



PROGRESSj ETC., OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 203 

against me. We appealed to the Superior Court, and enriployed 
the Hon. James Sullivan as counsel, who was at that time 
attorney general of the State of Massachusetts, and subse- 
quently became governor of that state. When I engaged him 
to undertake the cause, I presented it to him in all its bearings ; 
gave him the minutes of my former proceedings, and told him 
what I expected to prove. He said my cause was just, and that 
the constitution, both of the United States and of the State of 
Massachusetts, says, you shall gain your cause. The statutes 
of the state say, you shall have it. Eeason, justice, and equity 
say, you shall have it. But, with our present judges on the 
bench, it is hardly probable that you will obtain it. He said 
there never had been a judgment obtained in that state in favor 
of any dissenting denomination against the standing order. He 
said he was glad I had taken the matter up, because it would 
have a tendency to open the eyes of the people. Our opponents 
kept the trial off as long as the law would allow them to do so. 
When the cause came to trial, our evidence was clear on every 
point we wished to prove. The law appeared to be decidedly in 
our favor. Our attorney was an able, learned, and eloquent 
pleader, and on that occasion put forth one of his most noble and 
splendid efforts. He was a true friend to religious toleration, 
but he stood on the soil of the rankest intolerance. When the 
pleadings were all closed, and the cause was given to the judge, 
for him to give to the jury, — when at least four-fifths of the 
numerous spectators thought the case so clear that the jury 
would not leave their seats to find a verdict in our favor, and 
many gave it as their opinion that the judge knew that if the 
cause was submitted to the jury, their oath w^ould bind them to 
bring in a verdict in favor of the Methodists, — instead of giving 
it to the jury, the judge cried, ' No cause of action,' and flung it 
out of court. Our counsel inquired why there was no cause of 
action. The judge said, ' Because the indictment said the money 
W£LS taken for the support of the preached Gospel ; whereas, it 
appeared in evidence that it was taken to build a meeting-house.' 
Mr. Sullivan said he had always supposed that if meeting-houses 
were built to worship the Christian's God in, they were built for 



204 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the support of the Gospel ; but he supposed he must submit to 
higher and more learned authority. Thus we lost our cause, 
because the good people of Massachusetts did not, at that time, 
build meeting-houses for the support of the preached Gospel ! 
The parish agents were appointed to defend the cause to the time 
of obtaining judgment. Of course, they were not clothed with 
authority to take out an execution for the cost, till they went 
home and called a parish meeting. When this was done, the 
Methodists and Baptists all turned out to the meeting, and out- 
numbered the Congregationalists, and voted the execution 
answered to the satisfaction of the parish, which left each party 
to pay its own cost. They then voted that the meeting-house 
should be occupied, for that year, one-third of the time by the 
Congregationalists, one-third by the Methodists, and one-third 
by the Baptists. During that year, the Baptists built themselves 
a house of worship in Suffield, and the next year they voted the 
house at Feeding Hills one-half the time to the Congregational- 
ists, and the other half of the time to the Methodists. I had the 
privilege of holding four Quartely Meetings in it, when I was 
on the Rhinebeck district." 

The Itinerants in New Hampshire had, also, their share of 
the trials of the times. Asa Kent travelled LandafF circuit, in 
the early part of 1802. It extended from Rumney, in New 
Hampshire, to Upper Coos, and included most of the towns in 
that region. Lancaster was a considerable village, pleasantly 
situated on the east side of Connecticut river, and was the 
stronghold of opposition. " The persecutors," says Mr. Kent, 
" were determined to keep Methodists out of the place ; but a few 
had been converted, and others had ears to hear. I preached 
there to a crowded house, with much enlargement and freedom 
of spirit. Some were a little unruly, but they becam.e quiet 
upon a mild admonition. Three days after, I was passing 
through the Nine Miles Woods, to Littleton, and was overtaken 
by three sleighs filled with men and women. One cried, ' That 's 
the Methodist preacher : let 's run him down; ' and they set their 
horses upon full speed. The snow was very deep, and with 
great difficulty I succeeded in getting my horse out of their 



ETC., OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 205 

way, as they passed with loud shouting. They stopped at the 
tavern in Littleton, and probably tasted of the ' gude crather.' As 
I passed, one sung out, ' There goes the Methodist preacher : 
come on, — we '11 run him down! ' With loud cracking of whips 
and shouting, they came like furies. I gave them the road, but 
the forward driver turned out after me. The noise and tumult 
so disturbed my horse, that he became almost unmanageable. I 
finally wheeled him around, and beckoned to them, and they 
became quiet. The following conversation took place. I asked, 
' Can you tell me if I have fallen among gentlemen or civil citi- 
zens? ' — The driver vociferated, ' I guess nary one.' — ' I think 
you are correct,' said I; 'for gentlemen will not be guilty of a 
mean action, and civil citizens will treat all people with civility, 
especially on the public highway. These are not your charac- 
ters. But there is another class of ill-bred people, who have no 
concern about the rules of civility. They have no fear of losing 
a good character, as they have none to lose ; but as there will 
be a day of future retribution, they must give an account for all 
their conduct here,' &c. I went on to exhort them to repentance, 
for I felt happy in the Lord. All stopped, and were quiet. The 
boisterous driver had put on his cap, which had fallen ofT in his 
flourishes. The women hung their heads, hid their faces, and 
appeared to be ashamed to be found in such company. At 
length the driver interrupted me — ' Well, we do not know but 
you are a true minister; and if you will ride out as far as that 
stump yonder, we will all believe that you are so.' — 'Your 
opinion is of little consequence to me,' I replied ; ' but the Lord 
knoweth the heart, and sooner or later your sin will find you 
out.' — 'Wei], are you coming to Lancaster to preach again?' 
he inquired. — I answered ' Yes.' — He swore tremendously, if I 
came, I should be ' sacrificed.' ' For,' said he, ' we have a min- 
ister of our own, and we will not have Methodist preaching 
there : we have carried one preacher out of town, and you shall 
share no better.' — ' It seems, then, that you, sir, was one that was 
employed in that noble deed.' — ' Don't accuse me of that, if you 
know what is good for yourself ! ' — ' Why, sir, you said we, and 
I supposed you intended to identify yourself with the actors in 
18 



206 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

that affair.' He swore roundly, that if I came there again, they 
would take my head from my shoulders. — I replied, ' In former 
times some died for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and it will 
only be repeating what has been done before. The Lord being 
my helper, I will be there in about three weeks ; so you may 
get all things in readiness,' As he was pouring out threats, one 
said ' Glory,' and another, ' Amen,' and off they went at full 
speed. The landlord, who had seen and heard all, thought I 
ought to prosecute them ; but, poor man, it may be, he never 
thought how much he had helped the matter along, by selling 
them rum. I was at the place at the time appointed, and, as I 
expected, did not get a sight of them. But the Lord comforted 
the hearts of a few who were praying, and longing for the dis- 
plays of Divine mercy." 

Such is an example of the vulgar abuse which these devoted 
men had to bear in those days. They were denounced from the 
pulpits, maltreated in the courts, interrupted in the course of 
their sermons with charges of heresy, and assailed in the streets 
by the rabble. Washburn was hooted through the villages ; Hed- 
ding, cursed with outcries on the highway; Dow's nose was 
publicly wrung ; Sabin was knocked down, and struck on the 
head, to the peril of his life, with the butt of a gun ; Wood was 
horse-whipped ; Christie, summoned out of bed to answer to a 
charge of violating the laws, by marrying a couple of his people ; 
Willard, wounded in the eye by a blow, the effects of which he 
still shows ; Mudge, denied the rights of a clergyman, and 
arraigned before the magistrate for assuming them ; Kibby, 
stoned while preaching, and Taylor drummed out of town. It 
requires more determination to endure such grievances than to 
meet graver trials ; but the early Methodist Itinerants were proof 
against either. 

Amidst their many sufferings, they could nevertheless exclaim, 
with St. Paul, — " Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us 
to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his 
knowledge by us in every place." Great reformations spread 
along their evangelical tours, and they concluded the year with 
9758 members in their societies. They had gained, since their 



PROGRESS, ETC., OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1802-3. 207 

last Conference, 1153. Maine reported, at the next session, 
eleven circuits, — an addition of one, besides the enlargement 
of others. There were now about 1750 Methodists in that 
Province : 335 had been gathered in during the year. Much 
interest had prevailed on several circuits in Massachusetts, and 
Methodism had fought, for the first time, some successful battles 
in the metropolis. The little Boston society of sixty had 
strengthened into a band of one hundred and eighty-six. Great 
revivals had spread over the western appointments of the state, 
especially on Granville circuit. Most of the circuits in Connect- 
icut had been prospered, and it had been a successful year in 
both Vermont and New Hampshire. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CONFERENCES OF 1803. 

Asbury and Whatcoat return to the East. — Visit the Churches. — At Waltham. — First 
Boston Session of the New England Conference. — Members. — Proceedings. — Examin- 
ation of Character. — Reports from the Circuits. — Finances. — The Bishops on their 
Route to New York Conference. — Its Session. — Returns from the Circuits. — The Sab- 
bath Services. — Prosperity. 

Asbury and Whatcoat arrived in New York city about the 
middle of May, 1803, on their way to the New England Con- 
ference. They had traversed the nation westward to Tennessee, 
and southward to the further Carolina, since we last parted from 
thiem, and were weary and ill. After spending three days in 
the city, they sought refuge at the home of " the Sherwoods," 
in NewRochelle — Asbury's favorite resting-place, on the border 
of New England. They tarried there, however, but briefly; 
and Asbury preached daily, as usual. In two or three days 
they reached Redding, Conn. It was here that the second 
Methodist society of New England had been formed, about 
twelve years before. Asbury found it in a flourishing condition, 
and exhorted it to " Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 
bowels of mercies, kindliness, humbleness of mind," &c. Col. 
3 : 12, 13. 

On May 27th, he writes, " Finding the road, by information, 
to be rocky and hilly, we were persuaded to come back by the 
post road ; we therefore directed our course down through 
Greenfield and Bridgeport to Stratford, and arriving at Elkanan 
Wheeler's, we were willing to rest. Thirty miles of our journey 
we made without feeding man or beast. My health is better ; 
but the labor of riding, and the inconvenience occasioned by the 
dust raised by the chaise in advance of us, made me feel a little 
like Jonah. My soul is often led out after God. My treasure and 



CONFERENCES OF 1803. 209 

pleasure is Christ, and the service of his church. The Baptists 
of Connecticut have sent their petition from the assembly to the 
legislature of Connecticut, to the bishops of the Methodist church, 
that they may have their aid in obtaining toleration. What 
can we do, and how is it our business ? We are neither Popes 
nor politicians. Let our brethren assert their own liberties. 
Besides, who may now be trusted with power ? The Baptists 
are avowed enemies to Episcopacy, be the form of church gov- 
ernment as mild as it may. Now it seems, Popes, as they would 
otherwise term' us, may be useful to them, nor are they too proud 
to ask for help ; but our people will not be pushed into their 
measures. Their bishops have no coercive power of this sort. 
If the Baptists know not what to do, we cannot tell them. 

" Sunday, 29th, we came to Middletown. As it was the hour 
of devotion, we stepped into the Separatists' meeting-house, and 
heard a certain Mr. Greaves preach. At five o'clock. Brother 
Whatcoat, after some demurring, was permitted to preach. 
When he was done, the old women controverted his doctrine of 
sanctification. The work of God revives at New Haven ; and 
Satan's emissaries rage, and those who are too good to be better 
oppose." 

The next day they pressed on some twenty-five miles. Asbury 
preached, however, in the evening, and ordained a deacon. On 
the 1st of June they travelled twenty miles to Windham, where 
Whatcoat preached, and the following day they arrived at 
Thompson. The young society of that town collected at four 
o'clock in the afternoon, and Asbury addressed them on "the 
fruits of the spirit, — love, joy, peace, long-suffering," &c. Gal. 
5: 22—26. 

Thursday, 3d, they were at Milford, Mass. " Brother What- 
coat preached at five o'clock ; and, on Friday, I made, at Need- 
ham, an improvement on 1 Pet. 5 : 10. On each of the last 
two days we have travelled thirty miles. I have read some 
letters giving an account of the work of God at the south. 
Some in our eastern congregations wonder, if they do not 
believe. Since we left Baltimore we have made seven hundred 
and twelve miles." 

18^ 



210 B'lEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

On Saturday, 5th, they reached Asbury's old asylum in 
New England, the rural home of Be mis and Pickering, at 
Waltham. Here, in the most beautiful season of the year, and 
amidst simple but pleasant scenery, they reposed four days. 
"My mind," wrote Asbury, "is in peace; but such perpetual 
motion wearies the flesh and flags the spirits. Poor New Eng- 
land ! she is the valley of dry bones still ! Come, oh breath of 
the Lord, and breathe upon these slain that they may live ! " 

On Sunday, Whatcoat preached on the great blessings of the 
new covenant. Heb. 8: 10 — 12. Asbury followed with a dis- 
course on the " heed" which should be given to these blessings, 
from Heb. 2 : 1 — 3, as an appropriate counterpart to the sermon 
of Whatcoat. They tarried in their pleasant retreat till Tues- 
day, "resting, reading, vi'riting, and laying plans for the Boston 
Conference." 

On Wednesday, the 8th of June, 1803, they reached the 
metropolis, and opened the session of the New England Confer- 
ence, — the first convened in Boston."^ Eighteen members were 
present the first day. The session was held "in our solitary 
little chapel," writes Asbury, — the humble, barn-like structure, 
which had been erected by the feeble Methodist society, on 
Hanover avenue, then called Methodist alley. It was a novel 
occasion to Boston. The Conference sat six hours a-day. The 
congregation met for preaching at five o'clock in the morning; 
the session began at eight o'clock, and closed for preaching at 
eleven o'clock; it was resumed at three o'clock, p. m., and fol- 
lowed with preaching again, in the evening. 

The members present during the session were George Picker- 
ing, Joshua Taylor, Thomas Lyell, Ralph Williston, John Blood- 
good, Epaphras Kibby, Daniel Webb, Reuben Hubbard, Comfort 
Smith, Aaron Humphrey, Timothy Merritt, Joseph Snelling, 
Asa Heath, Joshua Soule, Nathan Emery, Joseph Baker, Ed- 
ward Whittle, Oliver Hall. The first thirteen were elders, the 
next three deacons, and the last two probationers. 

*The printed Minutes of 1802 appoint the session on the second Thursday in June. 
It commenced on the second Wednesday, according to the MS. record. 



CONFERENCES OF 1S03. 211 

The first day's session was introduced with Scripture lessons, 
singing, and prayer, by George Pickering. Its business was 
confined to the examination of the recommendations of candidates 
from the Quarterly Conferences. There w^ere at least six of 
these, — four of them from Maine. Joshua Soule closed the 
day with a sermon. 

On Thursday, Asbury opened the session with the usual 
devotional exercises. Taylor, Pickering and Bloodgood, were 
appointed a committee on the pecuniary deficiencies of the 
preachers ; and it is a significant fact that this was the only 
business committee of -the Conference. Those great interests 
of education, missions, publications, temperance, &c., which now 
eno-ross so laro-e an amount of the deliberations of our Confer- 
ences, had not yet assumed an appreciable form. 

The chief business of the day was " the examination of char- 
acters." The presbyters and deacons, respectively, passed in 
review^ and there was no lack of frankness and directness in 
the remarks made upon their defects or merits. Hesitancy was 
expressed respecting one because of " his oddity and uncouthness 
of expression in preaching;" but a brother " thought he had 
reformed, and he was continued." Another was discontinued 
for having deserted his post, " shortly after taking it, the past 
year." Respecting another, " Brothers Merritt and Humphrey 
spoke of some improprieties of language, but commended his 
piety." Of another it is recorded, that " he had been instrument- 
al of great gpod where he had travelled." One is discontinued, 
'•'not being acceptable among the people." "All," however, it 
is recorded, "hoped he was pious." He felt deeply the rebuke, 
and the next day begged for a reconsideration. Methodist 
Conferences, though rigorously strict in such inquiries, are pro- 
verbially credulous of the protestations and good resolutions of 
their members. This rebuked brother promised improvement. 
" Brother Humphrey and others expressed a hope that what had 
been done might be of service to him in future ; and as he had 
an earnest desire to have another year's trial, alleging that 
he would then feel more easy to retire if he was not useful, the 
vote was taken, and another year's trial was granted him." 



212 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

In the examination of deacons, it is recorded of one that " he 
had seen a glorious revival of religion in his district." Joshua 
Soule, " having travelled two years since his election to the office 
of deacon, was examined ; and as he maintained a good char- 
acter and promising talents, he was unanimously elected to the 
eldership." Nathan Emery was " found blameless and useful." 

On Friday, the Elders were examined. Complaint was made 
against John Bloodgood, "for not having visited enough; but 
this was obviated by the consideration of his abundant labors, he 
having had a good revival of religion in his congregation." 
Joshua Taylor made the apologetic complaint, and when his own 
case was under examination, Bloodgood retorted by complaining 
that " he had not enemies enough," and Pickering thought " he 
was not sufficiently austere in order to govern some that he had 
to deal with, which objection Brother Taylor said was well- 
founded." Daniel Webb was thought by Pickering to "love 
home too well." Against another, Taylor alleged that " some 
thought him rather grand and lofty in his diction." Kibby, who 
had been at Marblehead, was reminded that "he had not changed 
with the Lynn preacher as much as might have been well ; but 
as he and the preacher at Lynn had both had good revivals of 
religion, it was thought their attention was well taken up in 
their stations." Thomas Lyell was gently reproved for "not 
being altogether regular in the administration of discipline ; " 
and it was alleged against Ralph Williston, that " he had not 
taken the appointment which was given him ; but the want of 
health at the time when he should have taken it, and his use- 
fulness in Boston (as he and Thomas Lyell had seen a great 
work in that town), seemed to be a sufficient apology." 

Such were the caution and brotherly frankness with which 
these primitive " Conferences " (justly so called) were conducted. 
Few in numbers, strangers in a strange land, as most of the 
preachers were, and watched on every side for evil, it was 
requisite that they should guard each other in the fear of God, 
though in mutual charity. They did so with unwavering fidel- 
ity and " brotherly love continued." 

Ostrander, of New York Conference, was present during 



CONFERENCES OF 1803. 213 

the day ; he opened the Conference in the morning, and preached 
in the evening. An interval was spent in prayer, in which 
" the candidates were commended to God." Asa Heath was 
located , " urging bodily inability, and family concerns ; " and Timo- 
thy Merritt " arose and stated that he had thoughts of locating 
for more than a year, — that he had made it a subject of prayer, 
and alleged that he had gained full satisfaction in his mind that 
it was his duty to locate. Much was said against his locating, 
as the brethren were unwilling to lose him out of the travelling 
connection ; but, upon the vote being taken, a location was 
granted him." 

Reports were received from the circuits. John Bloodgood had 
labored w^ith success at Lynn. He was there in 1791, as col- 
league of Daniel Smith; after an absence of twelve years, in 
the middle Conferences, he had returned to assist his old co-la- 
borers in the east, and had entered upon his work with his char- 
acteristic energy ."^ Lynn returned but eighty-two members in 
1802 ; it now reported one hundred and twenty-one. The society 
in Boston had flourished. Thomas Lyell was exceedingh'- popu- 
lar there; assisted by Ralph Williston, he had'witnessed a gra- 
cious revival, and returned one hundred and eighty-six members 
— nearly three times the number of the preceding year. Asa 
Heath reported a gain of forty on Falmouth circuit, Me. Nathan 
Emery had enjoyed extensive prosperity on Norridgewock cir- 
cuit ; his returns were forty-five in advance of those of the last 
year. A new circuit, named Bristol, had been formed in Maine, 
from which two hundred members were reported. There had 
been a considerable reformation, and a gain of sixty-two, on the 
Penobscot circuit. Other appointments also reported gratifying 
success; and but few had declined, notwithstanding the pow- 
erful draw-backs which combined to retard their prosperity. 
Much gratitude w^as felt in the Conference, on the announce- 
ment that the aggregate increase within its own limits was five 
hundred and nineteen. At the end of these proceedings, Asbury 
ascended the pulpit, and concluded the morning by a sermon. 

*See an account of him in " Memorials of the Introduction of Methodism." Anno 
1790. 



214 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

On Saturday, the committee of finances closed its business. 
According to its report, the highest sum received by any preach- 
er was $135.22, which had been paid Daniel Webb, on Salis- 
bury and Hawke circuit, N. H. The smallest amount received 
was $26, the payment of Reuben Hubbard, on the only circuit 
in Rhode Island. Joshua Taylor had received, on his whole 
district, $61. Epaphras Kibby's receipts at Marblehead had 
been $64. Timothy Merritt, who now had a family, received 
$75. Philip Munger, $57. The aggregate receipts of the 
twenty-six preachers ^ who pertained to the Conference were 
$1200, an average of but little more than $47. The ag- 
gregate deficit was a larger sum than the receipts, being 
$1287. The average deficit was nearly $50. The sum of 
$306.41 was all that could be provided to meet this deficiency ; 
$29 of it were taken up in a collection, during the session; 
$30 more were given by fifteen preachers; $24 had been 
sent by Needham circuit; $90 came from the chartered fund 
at Philadelphia, and $100 had been forwarded from the Bal- 
timore Conference, as a token of its continued sympathy with 
the self-sacrificing men whom it had sent to New England. 
These contributions were distributed among the claimants, ac- 
cording to their necessities. Asa Heath received $32, Timothy 
Merritt $9, Joshua Soule $2, &c. 

It may well be doubted whether the records of any other 
modern church afford a parallel example of pecuniary sacrifice. 
The whole reported receipts of these twenty-six men did not 
surpass what is considered the moderate salary of a city clergy- 
man. 

At eleven o'clock Bishop Whatcoat preached; the discourse was 
followed by the ordination of Joshua Soule and Nathan Emery, 
Elders, and Edward Whittle, Deacon. Asbury read out the 
appointments, and the same day the devoted and self-sacrificing 
band dispersed to their various circuits, to labor and suffer 
another year. 

The bishops hastened to the farm-house of Bemis. " As our 

* These were not all present ; but all had travelled within the Conference the past 
year, and were claimants. 



CONFERENCES OF 1803. 215 

work was done," writes Asbury, " and we were feeble, we came 
away to Waltham. It is no time to journalize ; but I may 
remark that we had great peace in our Conference, and that we 
have an increase of five hundred members. I lodged at Mrs. 
Woodward's, and was kindly and comfortably entertained. The 
great wants of Boston are good religion and good water." He 
describes the community as spiritually " dead," — " dead by 
nature, by formality, by sin; " and ascribes the moral lethargy of 
its churches to the habit of *' reading " sermons. 

The two bishops tarried at Waltham until Tuesday, when 
they departed on their route to the New York Conference, 
which was to be held this year at Ashgrove, N. Y. 

Thursday, 17, Asbury writes, " We came to Ebenezer Col- 
burn's, New Hampshire ; and I preached upon Titus 2:11, 12. 
We had an open time, a baptism, and sacrament. Next day we 
labored through extreme heat, and over high hills, to Marl- 
boro', and were glad to rest ourselves at Ebenezer Herrick's, 
opposite the west side of the great mountain called Monadnock." 

He admires the aspects of the primitive settlements. " The 
soil," he writes, " though barren, exhibits, in its abundant pro- 
ductions of grass, oats, barley, rye, and potatoes, what the arm 
of labor and habits of economy and industry will do ; out doors 
there is a well-kept stock of cattle, sheep and hogs ; and in 
doors you see plenty of cheese, butter, and milk, and fish from 
the mill-ponds, which are wonderfully frequent, producing the 
finest trout and pike ; the people are pictures of health, and 
appear to be of the old English stamina. Saturday, 19, we 
journeyed through the vale and pleasant town of Keene, and 
climbed along, height after height, towards Walpole ; seven 
miles off, upon the south-west, we turned and came to West- 
moreland, and held our Quarterly Meeting for Chesterfield 
circuit at Jonathan Winchester's, brother to the famous Univer- 
salist of that name. I opened the meeting in a new barn, upon 
Titus 2 : 13, 14. On the Sabbath we were crowded from seven 
o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon ; the wind 
from the south-east blew in at the door, and it rained withal. 
Brother Whatcoat and Elder Ostrander preached before, and the 



216 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

young men exhorted after Love Feast and the Sacrament. Mon- 
day, 21, we came over the mighty hills to Chesterfield : here we 
called upon John Bishop, and at four o'clock a few were got 
together, to whom I gave a lecture upon Heb. 12: 1, 2, 3. Next 
day we crossed the Connecticut river at Bennett's Ferry, and came 
into the city of Brattleboro', stopping at Joseph Jacobs'. We are 
now in Vermont. The stupendous steeps on each side of the river 
resemble those at Harper's Ferry, and the precipitous heights of 
the North river. We have rode eight hundred and fifty miles 
since we left Baltimore. My mind enjoys a great calm ; and I 
have faith to believe that, as God is working gloriously in other 
parts of the continent, he will make a display of h^'s power even 
here, and bid the dry bones live : I hope to hear of it at the 
Ashgrove Conference. Wednesday, 23, we had a m.eeting at a 
school-house near to Joseph Jacobs', in Guildford, Vt. : Brother 
Whatcoat preached upon the perfect law of liberty, and w^e had 
a gracious season. As we could not consent to wait three days 
for Whittingham Quarterly Meeting, we on Thursday took the 
track to Bennington, the mountain notwithstanding : we had been 
advised to go round nearly one hundred miles. We passed through 
Brattleboro', Marlboro', Wilmington, and the skirts of sev- 
eral other small towns. Our dinner we took with D. Mixen, 
and continued on to William Perry's, thirty-five miles. Our 
journey to-day was quite in the old style — Braddock's road, 
over the Alleghany Mountains. On Friday evening we reached 
Ashgrove, twenty-eight miles, by four o'clock — weary men, and 
tired horses. I have good health, severe temptations, but no 
murmuring or ill temper. I am once more in Cambridge, State 
of New York. Saturday, 25th, I spent in reading, writing, and 
meditation and prayer. Sabbath, 26th, at our church at Ash- 
grove, I spoke upon Col. 4 : 2, 3 ; we had a quickening time. 
When I came across the mountain I found the season was 
exceeding dry, and was led out in prayer that the Lord would 
graciously give us of the fruits of the earth, and be merciful to 
man and beast : our exercises of faith and prayer, I believe, were 
not unavailing. On Saturday and Sunday we had rain ; and 
now, the same blessings of a spiritual nature are wanting, for 



CONFERENCES OF 1303. 217 

which we wrestle with our God ; and I believe souls will be con- 
verted at this Conference. Luther Bishop preached on the Sab- 
bath day ; and so we will continue every evening until next Mon- 
day or Tuesday week, stroke after stroke with the rod of the Lord, 
like Moses, until the waters of repentance flow from hearts of 
rock. On Monday Brother Whatcoat preached. My subject, on 
Tuesday, was Rom. 2:7: v.^e rested at John Baker's. On 
Wednesday the Elders did not appear, and I was obliged to hold 
forth again — my text, Psalm 102 : 17. By deaths and removals, 
this Ashgrove society is diminished ; but there will be a revival 
at this Conference. This is a very eligible place for Albany, 
York, Genesee, Pittsfield, and Vermont districts ; but the Con- 
ference ought to be divided between the two old societies of 
York and Ashgrove. On Thursday I had to preach again." 

The New York Conference commenced its session at Ash- 
grove, on Friday, July 1st. It was held " at John Baker's in 
the Holloway," which Asbury describes as " prettily environed 
with hills, a carpet of green spread beneath, and here and there 
around us fields clothed with the promise of an abundant har- 
vest.'' There were nearly seventy preachers present, fifty of whom 
were in full membership in the Conference. Garrettson, Ostran- 
der, Bostwick, and Brodhead, were there, with corps of strong 
men from their districts, who had been battling successfully for 
the truth during the year, from Long Island to Canada. James 
Coleman, who had travelled Redding circuit, Ct., in the midst 
of Calvinistic hostility, brought the news of a wide-spread 
reformation, and a gain of eighty members. Ebenezer Wash- 
burn, with no little opposition, had been extensively useful on 
Grranville circuit, Mass., and reported a gain of more than one 
hundred. Anson, who had been sent from the previous Con- 
ference to organize the church on Grand Isle, in Lake Cham- 
plain, had been instrumental in a general reformation, and 
returned more than one hundred members. Solomon Langdon 
and Paul Dustin had labored successfully on Vershire circuit, 
Vt., and gained about eighty. LandafT circuit, Vt., had pros- 
pered so greatly, under the labors of Phineas Peck and Martin 
Ruter, that it was now divided into tv/o circuits, and reported 
19 



218 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

an increase of eighty-six. The devoted Thomas Branch had 
travelled alone the Lunenburg circuit, which reached into 
Canada; he passed among the towns and villages like a flame 
of fire, and now reported that its fifty-eight members had multi- 
pled to one hundred and four. Reuben Jones, who had begun 
the year on Bridgewater circuit, Vt,, with ten members, returned 
fifty-four. Thomas Draper and Truman Bishop had gained, on 
Wethersfield and Woodstock circuits, Vt., eighty-one. Joseph 
Crawford had labored with his wonted success on Barnard 
circuit, Vt., and added seventy-seven to its membership. A gain 
of eighty-eight on Whittingham circuit had resulted from the 
labors of Elijah Ward and Asa Kent. 

Asbury's faith had anticipated a powerful impression upon 
the condition of the neighboring churches, from this session. He 
was not disappointed. A large multitude assembled on the 
Sabbath ; two thousand people crowded the village church and 
its precincts. Asbury stood in the door and preached to them, 
though ejfhausted and in pain, being " overcome by constant 
attention twelve hours a day to business in the Conference." 
Other and strong men blew the trumpet with a " certain sound," 
during the day. Hibbard, who was present, gives the following 
account of the occasion : 

" Our Conference was attended by the blessing of God, as 
usual ; and on Saturday arrangements were made for preach- 
ing on the Sabbath. Bishop Asbury was to commence in the 
morning, and preach the first sermon ; Brother Garrettson to 
preach immediately after him ; and Brother Thacher and Brother 
Moriarty to follow him, so as to have four sermons for the con- 
gregation that attended at the church. The next day the 
assembly was so great that it was appointed for the preachers 
to stand in the door of the house, and give up the seats in the 
house to the women, and the men were to stand out of doors. 
But the congregation was so large that they could not all hear. 
I, with other preachers, were on the outside of the congregation, 
and saw numbers turn away that we knew could not hear so 
as to understand. We felt grieved to see them gathering in 
little companies, talking of the news and politics of the day. 



CONFERENCES OF 1803. 2If 

Some preachers proposed to me to go into a wagon, under the 
shade of some trees, a little way off, and begin to sing ; and 
those in groups would gather round, and we could exhort them 
without disturbing the assembly at the meeting-house. My 
heart was warm with love. I went on. They followed. We 
begp.n to sing. The people gathered around, and many of the 
brethren that could not hear at the church came also. We 
had, I suppose, near five hundred hearers. I prayed, and gave 
out for my text, * God is Love.'' When I came to my applica- 
tion, the word was attended with power ; and the wind blowing 
gently, carried my voice to the people at the church ; they heard, 
and came flocking to our shade, around the wagon. I thought 
their meeting was out, and feeling the spirit of the Lord God 
upon me, I gave full vent to my feelings ; and directly those 
who were in the church came rushing out to see what was 
going on at the wagon. Some jumped out of the windows, and 
the rush was so great at the door that Brother Garrettson 
gave over preaching before he had half done. Preachers and 
people flocked around the wagon. By this time I was nearly 
exhausted, and gave place for Brothers Thacher and Moriarty. 
I went to a house near by, and lay down to rest me ; and after 
taking a little refreshment, I walked out to get some good of the 
meeting. The congregation was very large, — more than could 
well hear the preaching at the wagon ; and hearing some in the 
church, I went in to see what they were about. I found they 
were holding a prayer-meeting, and there were a few preachers 
with them, sitting in the altar, and the seats in the house were 
nearly half filled with people. So I attended one or two prayers 
with them, and then I began to sing ; and before we had sung 
the hymn through, the people crowded the church full. I 
thought I must exhort them once ; and, to enforce the necessity 
of religion, I endeavored to illustrate the awful state of the 
damned." ^ 

He proceeds to give an outline of his address, which must 
have been exceedingly graphic and powerful ; for such was its 
effect, that the multitude broke out in sobs and supplications, 

♦ Hibbard's Memoirs, p. 227-9. 



220 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM, 

and soon drowned his voice. Many, especially in the galleries, 
alarmed at the scene and their own emotions, ran out of the 
house ; but the preachers without met them at the doors, and 
formed a circle for prayer, and directed them to the " Lamb of 
God which taketh away the sin of the world." " This prayer- 
meeting closed the labors of the day," but not till "nine per- 
sons professed to be converted." The scene had been one of 
great interest and excitement, and was reviewed the next morn- 
ing in the Conference ; but all debate about the interruption 
produced by Hibbard's discourse was closed by a reference 
of Asbury to the good results, and a gentle hint to Hib- 
bard on the power of his voice, which Asbury said was 
" heard distinctly a half mile." Methodist preachers never, in 
those days, allowed any one in their assemblies to escape the 
conviction of the word for lack of hearing ; when preaching, 
they were seldom content to have their immediate audience 
alone hear them, but sounded out the alarm so that it usually 
rung through the neighborhood. 

The session closed on Tuesday, the fifth of July, having con- 
tinued through five days. The next day the bishops were en 
roMife again southward, rejoicing over the general prospects of 
the cause to which their lives were so entirely devoted. " By a 
fair and accurate computation," wrote Asbury, in a few days, " I 
judge that we have added, exclusive of the dead, the removed, 
and the expelled and withdrawn, 17,300. Our total for the year 
1803 is 104,070 members : in 1771 there were about 300 
Methodists in New York, 250 in Philadelphia, and a few in Jer- 
sey ; I then longed for 100,000 ; — now I want 200,000, — nay, 
thousands upon thousands." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 

Appointments. — Statistics. — John Robertson. — Pastoral Fidelity. — Death. — Seth Crow- 
ell. — Sketch of his History. — Character. — Elijah Willard. — Early Life. — Christian 
Experience. 

The appointments in the Eastern States, made at the New 
England and New York Conferences of 1S03, were — 

Boston District. George Pickering, Presiding Elder. Bos- 
ton, Thomas Lyell, Epaphras Kibby ; Lynn, Peter Jayne ; Mar- 
blehead, Daniel Webb ; 'Nantucket, Joshua Soule ; Provincetown, 
Allen H. Cobb; Providence, Alexander McLane, Noble W. 
Thomas ; Norto7i, Edward Whittle, John Eobertson ; Newport, 
Thomas Lyell, two months ; Needham, Reuben Hubbard, Thos. 
Ravlin ; Salisbury, David Bachelor ; Hawke, Daniel Jones ; 
Kingston, Nehemiah Coye ; Poplin, William Goodhue. 

District of Maine. Joshua Taylor, Presiding Elder. Fal- 
mouth, AXkedi Metcalf, Dan Perry; Pola?id, Joel Wicker; Bethel, 
David Stimson ; Readfield, Joseph Snelling, Thomas Perry ; 
Hallowell, Aaron Humphrey, Samuel Hillman ; Norridgewock^ 
Joseph Baker, Ebenezer Easty; Penobscot, Vh\\\^ Hunger, Sam- 
uel Thompson ; Union River, Asa Pattie, Daniel Dudley ; Bris- 
tol, Comfort C. Smith ; Union, Daniel Ricker ; B&wdoinham, 
True Glidden. 

Pittsfield District. Sylvester Hutchinson, Presiding El- 
der. Pittsfield, Elias Vanderlip, E. Ward, R. Searle ; Adams^ 
Martin Ruter ; Cambridge, David Brown, Luman Andrus ; 
Brandon, Henry Eames, Ebenezer Stevens ; Vergennes, Wil- 
liam Anson ; Fletcher, Joseph Mitchell, Seth Crowell, O. Hall ; 
Grand Isle, Daniel Brumley. 

New London District. Daniel Ostrander, Presiding Elder, 



222 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

New London^ John Nichols, William Pickett ; Pomfret. John 
Gove, Dyer Burge ; Tolland, Augustus Jocelyn, Elijah Bach- 
elor; Ashburnham, Joshua Crowell, Phineas Cook; Middletown, 
Abner Wood, Nathan Emery ; Granmlle, Ebenezer Washburn, 
Nathan Felch ; Litchfield, Caleb Morris, John Sweet. 

Vermont District. " Joseph Crawford, Presiding Elder, 
Vershire, Samuel Draper, Oliver Beale ; Landaff, T. Branch, 
P. Dustin, S. Langdon ; Lunenburg, Reuben Jones, Elijah Wil- 
lard ; Hanover, John Brodhead, Andrew Kernagan ; Bridgewa- 
ter, Elijah Hedding ; Wethersfield and Woodstock, Truman 
Bishop, Ebenezer Fairbank ; Barnard, Asa Kent, Thomas 
Skeel ; Athens, William Pettigrew, Joel Winch ; Whittingham, 
Phineas Peck, Caleb Dustin. 

To these should be added Reddiyig, Conn., which was included 
in Garrettson's New York district, and travelled this year by 
James Campbell, and N. U. Tompkins. 

The ecclesiastical year began with five districts, and part of a 
sixth ; fm'ty-eight circuits and eighty-six preachers, including 
Garrettson. The districts remained the same in number as at 
the preceding sessions, but were greatly enlarged ; there had 
been a gain of three circuits and six preachers. The new cir- 
cuits were Ashburnham, Mass., and Bristol and Bowdoin- 
ham, Me. 

We have but slight information respecting the preachers 
who appear this year for the first time on the roll of the New 
England appointments. 

John Robertson was born in New Providence, N. J., March 
31, 1783. His parents trained him up in the fear of God, and 
the result, as usual in such cases, was that he early became 
interested for the welfare of his soul. He was converted in his 
eighteenth year, and joined the Methodist Episcopal church. 
His devotion and gifts led his brethren to encourage him in pub- 
lic labors as an exhorter, and afterwards as a local preacher. 
He entered the Itinerant ministry the present year, and was 
appointed to Norton circuit, Mass. His subsequent appoint- 
ments were, Vershire, Vt., 1804; Croton, N. Y., 1805; Pitts- 
field, Mass., 1806; Saratoga, N. Y., 1807; Newberg, N. Y., 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 223 

1808 ; Grand Isle, Vt., 1809 ; New York, 1810 ; Bergen, N. Y., 
1811; Philadelphia, Pa., 1812; Staten Island, N. Y., 1813 ; 
Essex, N. J., 1814 and 1815 ; Trenton, N. J., 1816 ; located in 
1817, on account of debility; 1818, readmitted into the Phila- 
delphia Conference, and stationed in Bristol, Pa.; Chester, Pa., 
1819; St. John's, Philadelphia, 1820, where he finished his 
course, August 8th, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. 

His departure was sudden, but not unexpected, for his enfee- 
bled constitution, and increasing symptoms of mortal disease, led 
him to be looking and watching for the coming of his Lord. On 
the morning of his death, as he was about rising from his bed, 
he was seized with hemorrhage of the lungs, and instantly 
expired. Though young when he entered the ministry, and not 
aged when he departed to his rest, Mr, Robertson was a genuine 
example of our primitive ministry. He was distinguished by 
great simplicity of manners and character. His personal attach- 
ments were generous and enduring. He possessed talents 
which secured him general esteem as a preacher, and he 
watched for souls as one who must give account; and was 
therefore particularly assiduous in pastoral labors, visiting and 
warning his people, like Paul, from house to house. He 
afforded a worthy example, in this respect. His brethren of the 
Philadelphia Conference say, "He was industrious and indefat- 
igable in his ministerial labors, and in visits from house to house, 
instructing and edifying the various members of the flock 
intrusted to his care. In the stations he occupied at different 
times, he was in the habit of paying his pastoral visits to almost 
every family in the neighborhood in which he lived, whether of 
the society or not, and praying in each family, as far as circum- 
stances would admit, and he could obtain permission ; and this 
course he pursued in the last station he filled, until within a few 
days of his death." ^ 

He was faithful unto death. Only two days before he fell, he 
was in his pulpit, admonishing his hearers that he spoke to them 
as a dying man, who was shortly to appear before God, and 
account for his ministrations among them. On the next Sab- 

* Minutes of 1821. 



224 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

bath his funeral sermon was preached from the same pulpit, to 
a large and weeping congregation. 

Seth Crowell was one of the heroes of this early period of 
our history, — a man of great bodily infirmities, and mental con- 
flicts, but of indomitable energy and zeal. He was born in 
Tolland, Conn., 1781, and converted to God in Chatham, Conn., 
when about sixteen years old. Trained in the active duties of 
Methodism, as a young layman, he was soon found gifted for 
more public services, and was licensed to officiate as a local 
preacher. He was subsequently called out, by the Presiding 
Elder, to travel the New London circuit, and was received into 
the New York Conference of 1801 — a period preeminent in 
the number and character of the men who then began their 
evangelical travels in the North, the list of whom contains such 
names as Oliver Beale, Thomas Branch, Laban Clark, Martin 
Ruter, Elijah Hedding, Samuel Draper, Ebenezer Washburn, 
&c. Mr. Crowell was but twenty years old when he thus cast in 
his lot with the self-sacrificing band ; his youthful spirit caught 
the infection of their zeal and heroism, and he presented himself 
as a pioneer for Upper Canada, among whose wildernesses a few 
Methodist evangelists had been " sounding the alarm" for two 
or three years. Bangs, in his History of Methodism, says, " He 
was a young preacher of great zeal, and of the most indefati- 
gable industry ; and going into that country, he soon caught the 
flame of Divine love which had been enkindled by the instru- 
mentality of Messrs. Worster, Coate, and Dunham. He entered 
into the work with great energy and perseverance, and God 
blessed his labors with much success. So greatly had God pros- 
pered the labors of his faithful servants in this province, that 
there were returned, in the Minutes of Conference for the year 
1801, 1159 members of the church. It had, indeed, extended 
into the lower province, on the Ottawa river, an English settle- 
ment about fifty miles west of Montreal." 

His first appointment in Canada was on the Niagara circuit, 
with Joseph Sawyer, a companion who could not fail to inspirit 
his associates by his own resistless energy. In 1802, he trav- 
elled Oswegatchie and Ottawa circuit. In 1803, he returned to 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 225 

the States, and was colleague of the laborious Joseph Mitchell 
on Fletcher circuit, Vermont In 1804, he was alone on Brandon 
circuit, Vermont. His subsequent appointments were, in 1805, 
Albany circuit ; 1806, New York city, with Aaron Hunt, Truman 
Bishop and Freeborn Garrettson ; 1807, Conference missionary, 
with Garrettson and Robert Dillon ; 1808, Schenectady ; 1809, 
Newberg, with John Finnegan. In 1810, he returned to New 
England, and travelled the Pittsfield circuit, Mass. ; 1811, Chat- 
ham, with John B.Matthias; 1812, Redding, Conn. In 1813, 
his enfeebled health compelled him to retire to the superannu- 
ated and worn-out ranks, where he continued three years, when, 
with partially recovered strength, he resumed active seiTice, and 
at his own request was appointed to labor at large as missionary 
within the bounds of the New York Conference. The next two 
years he spent in New York, and in 1819 received a location. 
He had done good and brave service in'the Itinerant field, and 
possessed the sympathies of his brethren ; so that, after five years 
location, they readmitted him to the Conference, though he was 
incapable of the labors of a charge. They placed him on the 
list of superannuated and worn-out members, that he might die 
among them, and have a claim on their funds while he should 
survive. He lingered but about two years longer, a remnant of 
the old chivalry of the ministry. He was a great sufferer from 
nervous disease ; but, though his trials were very severe, he at 
length triumphed over them all, and departed to his final rest in 
peace, July 6th, 1826. 

He possessed superior talents, "and," say his brethren, " was 
often heard to speak in demonstration of the spirit and with 
power, and was instrumental in the conversion of many souls." ^ 
During his labors in New York, a revival took place, such as 
was never before seen in that city. Dr. Bangs says, " In the 
midst of the shakings and tremblings among the congregations 
during this great work, Seth Crowell was eminently useful, 
preaching with the ' Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,' 
beseeching sinners to be reconciled to God, and accompanying 
all his efforts with mighty prayer and faith. When in the vigor 

* Minutes, 1827. 



226 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of his strength, the warmth of his affections and his longing 
desires for the salvation of souls led him forth with great zeal, 
both in and out of the pulpit; and he sometimes preached with a 
power and eloquence which overwhelmed his congregations 
* with speechless awe and silent love.' Nor was it mere decla- 
mation. His sermons were sometimes deeply argumentative, 
and his positions supported by Scripture texts so appositely that 
it amounted to a moral demonstration of their truth ; and not 
unfrequently sinners would be constrained to cry aloud for mercy, 
while he was making his searching appeals to their consciences. 
His preaching was frequently of a controversial character. 
Against the peculiarities of Calvinism and Universalism he bore 
a strong and pointed testimony, delighting to exhibit the univer- 
sal love of God to man on the one hand, and the great danger of 
abusing it on the other, by obstinately refusing to comply with 
the conditions of the Gospel." ^ 

Elijah Willard still continues among us, in old age and 
poverty, but trusting tranquilly in God, with that faith which 
sustained him amidst the trials of our early ministry. He was 
born in Ashburnham, Mass., April 26, 1782, and trained care- 
fully in the religious education of the times, his father being a 
deacon of the Congregational church. When but eight years 
old, he thinks he experienced a change of heart ; but not having 
suitable guidance, fell away. He still, however, retained a deep 
sense of Divine things, and the habit of prayer. In his twelfth 
year, the death of his father, who departed in the faith, leaving a 
good testimony for the Gospel, revived much his religious inter- 
est. About this period, he heard for the first time a Methodist 
preacher. " I listened," he writes, " with attention and delight, 
and had an immediate conviction that these men were the ser- 
vants of the Most High God, and showed the way of salvation." t 
Not many months afterward, he heard Jesse Lee. " I wish I 
could describe the emotions," he says, " which filled my mind, as 
I surveyed him from head to foot, when he stood up ; there was 
a power and authority in his word which I had never witnessed 
before, and the impression of his text, discourse, and appearance, 

* History of the M. E. Church, vol. in., p. 375. t Letter to the author. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 227 

is Still indelible in my mind. I would have joined the little 
Class at Ashburnham, which at first consisted of but seven mem- 
bers ; but my Congregational associates discountenanced the 
design, and warned me against the Methodists as deceivers." In 
1799, he was more thoroughly awakened to seek the salvation 
of his soul, under the preaching of John Nichols, who was then 
on Ashburnham circuit. From June to September, he was in 
profound distress of mind, such as has been repeatedly described 
in these pages. " Some time in August," he writes, "that won- 
derful man of God, Elijah R. Sabin, came into the village ; he 
preached, and most of the young people who heard him went 
home praying for God's mercy. I was not present, but saw two 
persons, who belonged to the family where I lived, deeply affected. 
I was smitten to the heart with the apprehension that they would 
enter into the kingdom of heaven, and I be shut out." He now 
gave up the world, and especially gay company, and began to 
seek God with all earnestness. His anguish increased, and he 
asked himself what more he could do ; when his own conscience 
answered that he was still ashamed of the reproached people 
who were leading him into the way of life, and would probably 
not own them, if he should even find relief through their 
prayers. He settled in his mind the purpose to adhere to them, 
and acknowledge their usefulness to him ; and " when I became 
fully willing," he continues, " to give my whole heart to God 
and acknowledge his cause, I found comfort." On the 15th of 
September, 1799, while praying in the fields, the light burst 
upon his soul ; he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his suf- 
ficient and present Saviour, sprung upon his feet, and adored the 
Divine mercy with inexpressible joy and undoubting trust. He 
slept little that night, for his soul w^as filled with new and intense 
thoughts. It had passed through its regeneration, and was a 
new creature. This was the great epoch of his life, from which 
it has taken its whole subsequent direction. 

He now joined the little band of Methodist believers, and 
entered heartily into their labors and struggles ; but, for a con- 
siderable time, resisted their advice, and the convictions of his 
own conscience, that he should more openly aid the infant cause 



228 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

b)^ public exhortation. He had been taught to believe that a lib- 
eral education was essential to the pastoral office, and his lack in 
this respect seemed insurmountable. His mind was much dis- 
tressed with conflicting impressions, until a providential oppor- 
tunity brought him to a conclusion of the question. " A licensed 
exhorter came," he writes, " from a distance, to hold a meeting 
with us. He commenced the services by singing, prayer, and a 
chapter from the Bible ; but, after speaking a few words, sat 
down, confounded with embarrassment. I rose and spoke about 
half an hour, on a verse of the chapter which he had read, and 
was blessed with much freedom of thought and utterance. But 
I felt alarmed when he said to me afterwards that I must preach 
in the afternoon ; telling me that it was God's will, and the 
Lord had closed his mouth that the duty might devolve upon 
me. I did not consent, but he commenced the meeting ; the 
word was like fire shut up in my bones, and I could not refrain ; 
I spoke with still more manifest help from the Lord." 

In this manner was Mr. Willard brought more publicly to 
labor for Christ. He still hesitated, and resisted his duty; but 
the way opened more and more before him, and at last, after 
laboring two or three years as a local preacher, he joined the 
Itinerant ranks the present year. He preached several years 
in Vermont, Canada, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, — 
"mostly in new settlements; and," he writes, "after spending 
all my earlier earnings in equipping myself with horse, saddle- 
bags, &c., I did not receive forty dollars a year, in all my 
appointments." He expended the property which came to him 
from his father's estate, and at last failing in health, he had to 
locate. After remaining in the local ministry several years, he 
was, like Seth Crowell, readmitted to the Conference, that he 
might receive aid from its funds, and die among his ministerial 
brethren. He now resides at Lynn, where so many of our worn- 
out veterans have spent their last days. " I have witnessed," 
he writes, " in my early ministry, a great work in the wilder- 
nesses of Vermont, New Hampshire and Canada. I have since 
been afflicted with sickness, and racked and tortured with pain ; 
but my soul has been happy in God ; the manifestations of 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 229 

Divine grace comfort me, the visions of his face have overpower- 
ering charms, which my pen cannot describe nor my tongue 
express." 

This year, fell at his post, on Cambridge circuit, David Brown, 
in the 44th year of his age. His colleague, Hibbard, pronounced 
him " as good a man as ever came from Ireland." He com- 
menced his ministerial travels in 1794, and labored devotedly 
nine years, on Dutchess, Columbia, Croton, New Rochelle, Long 
Island, Redding, Litchfield and Cambridge circuits. " There 
have," say the old Minutes, "been few, even among the best of 
men, who have lived so generally beloved, and died so regretted, 
as this holy man. His unaffected piety commanded esteem. 
His cheerfulness, seasoned with all the gentleness of love, won 
for him the affections, and his meek wisdom and stability 
sealed to him the friendship, as well as love, of all who had the 
happiness of his acquaintance. He had a peculiar excellence in 
reproof. The edge of it was so keen and so tempered as to give 
at the time rather pleasure than pain, yet so directed as to pro- 
duce with unerring certainty its effect ; and, generally, after his 
departure, his supposed pleasantry was first perceived to have 
had a serious meaning — but he lost no love by his reproofs. 
Thus graced and qualified of his God, he could not go where his 
endeavors were not blessed. Discord fled before him, for the 
God of peace was with him, and a universal harmony brooded 
over the face of the circuit." 

His exhortations were remarkably effective, and " many wit- 
nesses will arise in the great day, that his preaching was not 
with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of 
the spirit and of power. Under his administration, the blessing 
descended as the dew, with a general overspreading influence, 
that reached to every part of the circuit. He lived a man and a 
preacher of peace, and in peace he died. The terrible pains he 
had to endure under the dysentery, which brought him to his 
end, were so tempered with grace as to produce, even in the 
sharpest conflicts, a peace uninterrupted by any complainings. 
Yet would grace so prevail as occasionally to raise the river of 
peace in his soul into a flood-tide of joy ; and thus triumphantly 
20 



2^ MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

entered the servant into the joy of his Lord. The words he last 
spoke were — 'The Lord's will be done; my anchor is cast 
within the veil.' " ^ 

Being called in the course of the year to preach a funeral 
sermon, " while reading the following lines in the hymn which 
he gave out on that occasion, 

' Who next shall be called away ? 
My mercifal Lord, is it I ? ' 

As though he had a presentiment of his death, he laid his hand 
upon his breast and repeated, 

* My mercifal Lord, is it I ? ' 

It was the last sermon he ever preached. His was the very next 
funeral the people were called to attend. When they bore his 
body to the grave, they remembered the affecting manner in 
which he had read his hymn." t 

* Minutes, 1804. f Methodist Magazine, 1827. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

EVENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR. 

Maine. — Joshua Taylor. — Major Ilsley. — Methodism in Portland. — Joseph Snelling. — 
Vermont. — Ebenezer Washburn. — Extraordinary Scenes on GranviUe Ch'cuit. — Bed- 
ding in New Hampshire. — General Conference. — Statistics. 

The Itinerants in Maine labored successfully, and gathered 
into their scattered societies an addition of three hundred and 
fifty-four members, during the present year. At the Conference 
in Boston, it was found difficult to supply the province with 
able men. Merritt, Soule, Kibby, Williston, and similar preach- 
ers who labored and suffered there, while planting the first 
societies, had either located, or were demanded by the older por- 
tions of the church. In these circumstances, Joshua Taylor, who 
had been appointed the previous year to Boston district, volun- 
teered to return to the hardships of the province, and Asbury 
appointed him its Presiding Elder. His vast district was the 
only one within what is now the State of Maine, and compre- 
hended eleven circuits. He superintended the labors of seven- 
teen men. " I was enabled," he writes,^ " to enter this field 
again with some firmness and zeal, and saw many happy days 
and months there." In several places he witnessed the out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit. It was during this year that he 
procured for the young society at Portland their first chapel, as 
related in our sketch of Methodism in that city. " I started," 
he says, " in the month of March, for the General Conference, 
at Baltimore, and on my way spent a Sabbath in Portland, 
where I preached in a school-house, in which a respectable local 
preacher had been ministering to a few Methodists for some time. 
Major Daniel Ilsley had offered, as I learned, to purchase the 

* Communication to the author. 



232 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

old Protestant Episcopal chapel, which had just been moved to 
Federal-street, and give it to our small society, if the latter 
would repair it ; but they were too few in number to raise the 
necessary funds. On Monday, I called on the major, and told 
him that I thought I could procure means for the requisite 
repairs on my route, and would meanwhile become responsible 
for them. He took me with him to the proprietor of the edifice, 
purchased it at once, and conveyed it to the church, — a gener- 
ous deed, which I think should not be forgotten, as it was done 
by a benefactor who was not one of our number, and has had 
no unimportant connection with the history of Methodism in 
Portland." Mr. Taylor returned from Baltimore prepared to 
fulfil his engagement. He was stationed in the city the ensu- 
ing year, and at its close returns of members were reported for 
the first time in the minutes from Portland. They amounted 
to fifty-one. When he began his labors in the city, there were 
but eleven, all of whom, except two, were females. 

Joseph Snelling, who was appointed this year to Keadfield cir- 
cuit, travelled extensively in other portions of the province. He 
gives us a glimpse of his success. " The reformation," he 
says, " continued to go on in Livermore, and they soon built 
a meeting-house. I was requested to preach the dedication 
sermon, which I did, and the Lord added his blessing. Two 
young men, who attended the meeting and sat together, were 
both wrought up by the spirit of God; both experienced reli- 
gion, and both became preachers. There was also a revival in 
Vienna and Farmington. He travelled extensively, also, on 
the Norridgewock circuit, and witnessed good results. 

On the Vermont district, which included portions of New 
Hampshire, Joseph Crawford superintended an indomitable 
band of Itinerants, among whom were Hedding, Branch, Beale, 
Draper, Brodhead, Kent, and Willard. They still had some 
conflicts, — the hostilities of competing sects and the exposures 
of a new country and a severe climate ; but they abounded none 
the less in zeal and labors. They added, the present year, 
three circuits to the district, and gathered into their Classes 



EVENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR. 233 

nearly two hundred and fifty converts, while they replenished 
also the churches of their opposers. 

Ebenezer Washburn travelled Granville circuit this year. 
He was still involved in litigation for the rights of the church, 
but witnessed some interesting scenes in his field of labor. " I 
preached," he writes, " in a school-house, in Blanford, about one 
mile and a half from the Beach Hill meeting-house, one Sabbath 
evening ; and when the usual exercise was closed, it thundered, 
and lightened, and rained very hard. I said to the people, 
* Since God, in his providence, confines us here, perhaps it may 
be profitable to spend the time in prayer, or some other religious 
exercise.' Two young men rose, one after the other, and gave 
a short but interesting relation of their Christian experience ; and 
then a man by the name of Farnum, somewhat past middle age, 
who had been a violent opposer of the Methodists, rose up and 
said, ' I am the oldest and greatest sinner in the house. I want 
you all to pray for me. I am determined, if there is mercy 
in heaven for so vile a sinner as I, by the grace of God to seek 
till I find it.' As he spoke, the tears flowed from his eyes, and 
he trembled in every joint. A number were awakened at that 
meeting. Mr. Farnum experienced religion in a few days ; and 
when I came round again, I baptized him and several others, 
and received them into the church as probationers. At another 
time, I preached at the house of Samuel Mills, in Great Barring- 
ton, and God attended the word with power. We had a prayer- 
meeting that evening, at the same place, and while Eben Smith, 
one of the preachers, was praying, several fell to the floor. 
There was a Mrs. V there, who had been a bitter perse- 
cutor of her husband ; she was standing near the fire weeping, 
and her husband was lying at her feet, apparently like one dead. 
I went to her, and asked her if these things tried her. She said, 
' I feel the most tried with myself.' — I said, ' Do you think your 
husband feigns this ? ' — She said ' No ; I know him too well to 
believe that. I believe he is as sincere a man as ever lived ; 
and if this work is wrought by the spirit of God, I wish I might 
feel it.' — ' Amen,' said I ; and she instantly fell, like a lifeless 
statue, upon the stone hearth, directly before the fire. She was 
20^ 



234 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

moved back upon the floor, where she lay, with scarcely the 
appearance of life, till a late hour of the night. When she 
came to herself, so as to rise and sit up, she appeared as dis- 
tressed and horror-smitten a person as I ever saw. She left the 
place, earnestly crying to God for mercy. In the course of the 
day it pleased God to turn her spiritual captivity, and bring her 
into the liberty of the Gospel of his Son. For about one hour, 
during that prayer-meeting, the slain of the Lord almost covered 
the floor; and more than one-half the people in the room were 

prostrated and helpless. All except Mrs. V arose rejoicing ; 

some in the deepening of the work of grace, and some in the 
witness of justification by faith in Christ." 

Elijah Hedding labored this year with extraordinary success 
on Bridgewater circuit, N. H. His journeys were about one 
hundred miles each week ; he preached at least twice a day, 
and had regular appointments in thirteen towns. Though 
alone on the circuit, he supplied these appointments faithfully, 
and a flame of religious excitement spread, under his powerful 
labors, over the whole circuit. It is thought that hundreds were 
awakened, and the whole community seemed moved with the 
intense interest. He founded many societies which still con- 
tinue to flourish. 

Before the end of the present ecclesiastical year, the General 
Conference assembled in the city of Baltimore. There were, 
from the New England Conference present, George Pickering, 
Joshua Taylor, Thomas Lyell, and Reuben Hubbard. All the 
members from the New York Conference, save one, were men 
whose names are familiar to us as New England preachers ; 
they were Freeborn Garrettson, Michael Coate, Ralph Willis- 
ton, John Wilson, Daniel Ostrander, Augustus Jocelyn, Joseph 
Crawford, Nathan Emery, James Campbell, Aaron Hunt, Abner 
Wood, and Joseph Savi^yer. 

Nothing was done at this session which particularly affected 
the church in New England, except the definitive settlement of 
the boundaries of the Annual Conferences. It was ordered that 
the New England Conference should include the Province of 
Maine, and the Boston, New London and Vermont districts: 



EVENTS AND RESULTS OF THE YEAR. 235 

and that the New York Conference should comprise the New- 
York, Pittsfield, Albany, and Upper Canada districts. By this 
arrangement, two large districts — New London and Vermont, 
including about twenty circuits — were transferred to the juris- 
diction of the New England Conference. 

Lee remarks of the denomination generally, " that religion 
prospered among us very much this year, and we had pleasing 
accounts from almost every part of the connection." =^ The 
total returns of members were 113,134; the gains of the year, 
9064. These statistics exhibit a very considerable advance- 
ment, but the increase was little more than half of what it had 
been the previous year. The aggregate membership in New 
England was 10,699, giving an increase for the year of nearly 
1000. 

* Short History, &c. Anno 1804. 



CHAPTER XX. 

JEARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Lunenburg. — Robert McKoy. — Robert Braden. — First Class. — Joseph Crawford. — A 
Mob. — Brodhead. — Dalton. — Sandwich. — Providential Occurrence. — Singidar Intro- 
duction of Methodism into Athens. — Grand Isle. — Primitive Love Feasts. — Preachers. 
— Incidents. 

We drop here, briefly, the thread of our narrative, — as we shall 
occasionally do hereafter, — to survey more locally some of the 
results of the labors of Methodism in the Eastern States, as 
shown in the formation of individual churches. The history of 
several of our most interesting societies has been recorded in a 
preceding volume.^ From the hundreds of Methodist churches 
which now dot the surface of New England, we can select but 
few, and they the earliest, but not now the most important. 

For the following facts respecting the introduction of Method- 
ism into Lunenburg, Vt., and neighboring towns, we are 
indebted to a correspondent,! who writes that they were 
furnished him by Robert McKoy, or, as he is affectionately 
called in his own neighborhood, " Father McKoy." Mr. 
McKoy moved into Lunenburg near the close of the last cen- 
tury, being then some thirty years of age. He there became 
acquainted with Robert Braden, who was converted in Ireland, 
under the preaching of Mr. Wesley, and who was also one of 
the venerated " Fathers " of Methodism in Vermont. Through 
him Mr. McKoy first heard of the Methodists. It seems that 
this acquaintance led him to some seriousness, so that, when 
Rosebrook Crawford visited Lancaster, as we have heretofore 
noticed, and several persons were awakened under his labors, 
Mr. McKoy, though he did not hear him, yet hearing of him, 

* Stratford, Redding, Easton, Norwalk and Hartford, Conn. ; Warren and Bristol, 
R. I. ; Lynn and Boston, Mass. See Mem. of the Int. of Methodism, &c., chap. xm. 
tRev. J. S. Loveland. 



i 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 237 

was led more earnestly than ever to inquire what he should do 
to be saved. At the same time, John Picket, a blacksmith and 
a neighbor of his, was in a similar state of mind, though they 
were mutually ignorant of each other's feelings. As the visit 
of Crawford was a transient one, and it was uncertain when he 
would return, if ever, they conceived the idea of going to Brad- 
ford, fifty miles distant, to hear a Methodist preacher, that being 
the nearest appointment of the Itinerant. They travelled to the 
place ; both were deeply awakened ; they went forward for 
prayers, and both were happily converted on the spot. Joseph 
Crawford was the preacher, and he was invited to visit their 
village; which he accordingly did, and preached with much effect. 
At his first visit, he formed a Class of twelve persons. Mr. 
Braden and two of his daughters were members of this Class, 
and three of the original members became local preachers, viz., 
John Picket, Ozias Savage, and Robert McKoy. Mr. McKoy 
received his first appointment from Bishop Hedding ; " Father " 
Savage, now of Lisbon, N. H., has been extensively useful and 
popular as a preacher. Lunenburg became the head-quarters 
of a circuit w^hich bore its name. The preaching of Joseph 
Crawford was attended with remarkable power ; his congrega- 
tions were bathed in tears. At the next appointment, he went 
to Guildhall, where a mob attempted to stop him. A sheriff 
came to Mr. McKoy, and told him that the town authorities were 
determined to drive or carry the preacher out of the place. The 
anticipated mob deterred the people from attending the meeting, 
so that no one came except those who accompanied the preacher 
from Lunenburg. He, however, began the service, and while 
engaged in prayer, the sheriff, at the head of a mob of fifteen, 
entered the room. Crawford took for his text, " This sect, we 
know that everywhere it is spoken against." As he proceeded 
with his sermon, the sheriff interrupted him, and finally threat- 
ened to put him out of the house. At this stage of the meeting, 
a man who had come from Jefferson, N. H., some twenty miles, 
on purpose to hear a Methodist preacher, persuaded the mob to 
hear him through, except the Congregationalist deacon, who 
doggedly refused to listen to the discourse, and went out. This 



238 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

deacon was one of the leaders of the rabble. A result of the 
meeting was the awakening of one of the company, who subse- 
quently became a Congregationalist minister. 

At the next appointment, which was at Lancaster, Crawford, 
not being able to go himself, sent John Langdon and Rosebrook 
Crawford. It was during this visit that the riotous events 
occurred which we have mentioned in our sketch of Laban 
Clark. Mr. McKoy, who was an eye and ear witness, adds a 
few particulars. The preachers were invited to visit a sick man : 
and when they came out from his house, they found themselves 
surrounded by the rabble. They were taken first to the " par- 
son's," the mob stating that the " parson " had offered to give a 
cow to get rid of them. After Langdon, who, as we have seen, 
braved them manfully, had been abandoned by them, they dealt 
abundant abuse to poor Rosebrook Crawford, the exhorter, 
throwing him down, and stopping his mouth with a handker- 
chief, in order to prevent his singing, — a practice, by the way, 
to which the early Methodists seemed always inclined in similar 
circumstances, as the best " soft answer " which " turneth away 
wrath." They tried to ride him on a rail, and to make him 
promise not to return again ; but not succeeding, they finally 
" ducked " him in the river, gave three cheers, and left him on 
its opposite bank. This was Saturday, and the next day the 
hard-pressed laborers, nothing daunted, held a meeting in 
Lunenburg. 

The following year, Elijah R. Sabin was circuit preacher ; 
and the first Quarterly Meeting was held in the house of Ozias 
Savage, John Brodhead presiding. Mr. Savage still lives, in 
his eighty-fourth year. He thus speaks of Brodhead and this 
Quarterly Meeting : =^ " About the year 1798, I removed from 
Rockingham, Vt., to Lunenburg. There I first became acquainted 
with the Methodists. I think it was in 1800 that John Brodhead 
came to Lunenburg with several others, and commenced preach- 
ing the Gospel. The power of God attended the word in a 
wonderful manner. Sinners were pricked to the heart and 
sought the Saviour; backsliders were reclaimed, and the work 

* In a letter to the author. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 239 

of God spread in every direction. My own soul was made alive 
(although I had formerly professed religion), and I became 
interested and united with the preachers in the work. I soon 
became attached to Mr. Brodhead, and invited and welcomed 
him to my house, where religious meetings were frequently 
held. I recollect, the first Quarterly Meeting in that vicinity 
was held at my house. The good work spread, — a persecution 
soon followed, — the enemies of the cross of Christ bitterly 
opposed its progress, and used every means to prevent the inter- 
est from going on. I was blamed for harboring and encouraging 
those who were to 'turn the world upside down, and destroy all 
good order in society.' One of my neighbors even told me, that, 
were it not for the law, the people would hang me. But, not- 
withstanding all that could be said, the reformation continued to 
extend. Brodhead was a man suited to the times. Of great 
boldness and energy of character, he cared for none of their 
threats. He possessed great presence of mind, and was always 
engaged in his Master's work. I think he was one of the 
most powerful men, in prayer and exhortation, I ever heard. 
He was, in short, a man of God, — full of faith and the Holy 
Ghost, and greatly respected by the church. If it were known 
that Brodhead was to preach, he would not lack for hearers, but 
multitudes would flock to hear the word of life from his lips." 

Various forms of persecution were resorted to in following 
years ; but they usually recoiled upon the persecutors. In some 
instances, the leaders of mobs were put down by their compan- 
ions. 

Mr. McKoy mentions a great reformation under the ministry 
of Elijah Willard, who had a colleague by the name of James 
Willard. James Willard was an overwhelming preacher. Those 
who came to oppose often fell, like dead men, under his word. 
The old Lunenburg circuit is now subdivided, and its range of 
territory dotted with thriving churches. 

After Methodism had gained a feeble ipothold in Lunenburg, 
it was soon introduced into Dalton, N. H. The first Methodist 
in that town was Jacob Barrows. He became an exhorter, and 
held meetings in his own house. A Class was formed soon after 



240 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

he moved into the town. About the year 1803, Elijah Willard, 
who was stationed on Lunenburg circuit, preached in Dalton ; 
and E. Wells, then a local preacher, visited it about the same 
time. They were followed, the next year, by Joel Winch, 
who preached at Mr. Nichols', in the lower part of the town, 
and at Mr. Barrows'. Not far from this time, Mr. Buffington, a 
local preacher from Lunenburg, preached in the town. 

The first regular Methodist preaching commenced here about 
the year 1805, when Susanna Braden, daughter of Mr. Braden, 
already mentioned, married a Mr. Crandall, and moved into the 
town. Her father came soon after, and died there in the faith, 
during the Conference year of 1812-13. Rev. Joseph Lull 
preached his funeral sermon ; and he was regretted as one of the 
lay-founders of Methodism in Vermont. The first Quarterly Meet- 
ing in Dalton was held at the Brooks tavern stand. Solomon 
Langdon was then the circuit preacher. He labored mightily in 
word and doctrine, and laid permanently the foundations of 
Methodism in this region. The society at Dalton, with its 
neighboring appointment at Bethlehem, now (1850) includes 
more than one hundred and fifty members. 

Methodism was introduced into SandwicH; N. H., by an 
apparently very slight occurrence. The New England Confer- 
ence met at Buxton, Me., July 15th, 1804. Two preachers, on 
their way thither, found it necessary to tarry all night in Sand- 
wich, and inquired for a Freewill Baptist famil}'-, where they 
might be entertained, — their doctrines not being so obnoxious to 
that sect as to others. They were directed to call on a Mr. 
Webster, the father-in-law of Rev. Lewis Bates ; they accord- 
ingly called, and were hospitably entertained. The preacher, 
who led in family prayer, before kneeling, conversed personally, 
upon the subject of religion, with each one present. " This," 
said the lady of the house, " was something new to me." He 
asked Mr. Webster if he enjoyed religion, and received an 
answer in the negative ; then turning to the other preacher, he 
said, "We have been wrongly directed, and have made a mis- 
take." — " Thank God for the mistake ! " replied the second 
preacher. The word of exhortation was given. "It went," said 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 241 

Mrs. Webster, " to my heart ; " and the serious impressions she 
then received were never effaced until she was converted. The 
first Methodist sermon preached in the town was delivered in a 
very short time after, at the same place, by John Brodhead, and 
the following year Tuftenboro' circuit was formed. Lewis Bates 
was the circuit preacher. A Class was soon organized in Sand- 
wich. Mr. Webster and his wife, and Elijah Skinner, were 
among the first members. The work spread so powerfully that 
at the next Conference the territory was divided into two cir- 
cuits. Sandwich now reports more than 200 members.^ 

We are indebted to the venerable Asa Kent for the following 
account of the introduction of Methodism into Athens, Vt., and 
the neighboring towns. '* In 1800, they had no religious meet- 
ings regularly in Athens. The Congregational ists and Baptists 
preached there occasionally ; but it was not known that there 
was a man in the town that professed religion ; and certainly 
there were none willing to pray at a funeral, and if they did not 
send out of town for a minister, they buried their dead v/ithout 
ceremony. The means by which Methodist preaching was 
introduced were of a novel character, the particulars of which I 
learned the next year, 1801, when I was directed to form a cir- 
cuit, having Athens for my head-quarters. They were in sub- 
stance as follows : — A local preacher, by the name of Ashur 
Smith, of Pittsfield circuit, I think, was disposed to travel north- 
ward ; he made a short stay at Whittingham, and then came to 
Townsend, some thirty miles ; and finding they had no preach- 
ing there, called on Deacon Rawson, and professed to be a 
preacher of the Gospel. There was a small meeting-house in 
the town, and the Congregationalists had a small church, and 
were in want of a minister. The deacon, considering this provi- 
dential, wished him to stop and preach. They were so much 
pleased with his preaching, that they engaged him to preach for 
a year. He was very active in visiting and preaching in diflTer- 
ent parts of the town, and in adjoining towns, especially in Ath- 
ens. He was highly extolled, and then they concluded they had 

* We owe to Rev. Pickens Boynlon for our information respecting Dalton and Sajftd* 
wich. 

21 



242 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the very man they needed. But the ministers of Grafton, West- 
minster, and Putney, were not so well pleased with his opera- 
tions, considering him an inexperienced and incautious young 
man, who needed good advice. The Putney minister accord- 
ingly gave him a little brotherly admonition, — particularly for 
two things judged to be improper. He told him he thought he 
had accepted too small a salary^ as the people in that country 
were disposed to beat a minister down as low as possible before 
they would hire him ; and by his preaching so cheap, other 
towns might think they ought to give their ministers no more ; 
whereas they ought to be united, and stand by each other, and 
maintain their rights to a fair salary. Another error was, his 
preaching so much, in and out of town. ' If you begin in this 
way, you will be obliged to continue, or the people will complain 
of you ; and if you do it, others will conclude that their minis- 
ters must do so too. This will add greatly to our labors, and 
may involve us in many difficulties.' Ashar, however, went on 
his way rejoicing ; but just before the year expired, it was cau- 
tiously whispered around that he was a Methodist. This passed 
with some as a downright slander ; but the matter soon became 
serious, as it was ascertained that he had been off somewhere to 
a Methodist meeting, and Deacon R. was requested to make the 
investigation. They met, and the following conversation in 
substance took place : — ' It is reported, Mr. Smith, that you are 
a Methodist.' — ' Well, sir, it is true.' — ' Why did you not tell 
us, at first, what church you belonged to ? ' — ' Because you never 
asked me a word about it.' — ' But you have deceived us.' — 
'You know, Deacon R., that when I came among you, I pro- 
fessed to be a minister of the Gospel of Christ ; as such I have 
labored among you ; and now permit me to ask, if you, and the 
church, have not been satisfied with the doctrine you have 
heard.' — ' I have heard no complaint about that ; but the 
Methodists hold to dreadfid errors .' ' — ' Believe me, sir, I have 
preached to you every point of doctrine which the Methodists 
believe necessary to salvation. My object has been to benefit 
the people, and not to make a party. I was aware that preju- 
dice might prevent some from receiving the truth. I did not 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HABIPSHIRE. 243 

think it proper to bring in, or dwell upon, those points of doc- 
trine which are no way necessary to our salvation, but which 
might lead to endless and unprofitable disputations,' &c. But 
there was no small stir among the people. The old men, who 
were rigid Calvimsts,were exceedingly mortified on finding that 
they had been hearing with satisfaction, and extolling, a Meth- 
odist preacher for twelve months. I think Ashur Smith was a 
good man, and doubtless he thought his course perfectly justifia- 
ble, as in that way he could preach the Gospel to those who 
would not have heard him if they had known him to be a 
Methodist. I believe he maintained a good character as a local 
preacher, and died a few years since, in or near Stanstead, in 
Canada. Mr. Smith was invited to preach a while in Athens, 
but he had made other arrangements ; yet he toJd them he would 
get another preacher to visit them. The Rev. John Nichols was 
on the Wethersfield circuit to the north, and, by Mr. Smhh's 
request, visited Athens in the autumn of 1800, and the people 
gladly received the word. His circuit had become so large, that 
his Presiding Elder sent young Martin Ruter to assist him, then 
in his sixteenth year. I had formed some acquaintance with 
Ruter a few months before, and was exceedingly pleased with 
him. His preaching in Athens had great effect, and a glorious 
revival commenced. This became so general, in the latter part 
of winter and spring, that it was judged best for Mr. Ruter to 
spend most of his time in this place. The Rev. John Brodhead 
was Presiding Elder on the district (he gave me my first license 
to preach, and was ever near my heart) ; he formed the society, 
and gave an account of the meeting to Bishop Asbury. A short 
extract from Mr. Brodhead 's letter will give some idea of the 
state of things at that time : ^— ' Nothing remarkable happened,' 
he says, ' till we came to the little town of Athens. Here I 
preached on Tuesday to a large congregation in the open air. 
They heard with great attention. There had been no society 
formed, and it was proposed for me to preach again the next day, 
read the rules, and form a Class. We had a most melting time : 
the power of the Lord was present to heal, and eighty-three 
came forward, and joined society. Their eagerness alarmed me 



244 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

before they had all joined. I was afraid they had not considered 
sufficiently what they were doing-. I rose, and poured upon them 
a very warm exhortation, and told them we wanted none but 
such as were determined to save their souls, and would evidence 
it by walking according to the rules of the society. As soon as 
I ended, they came forward again with streaming eyes, and 
desired to join, till they made up the number of eighty-three.' 
This was a great day for Athens ! What a change in one year! 
Now, praying souls were found in almost every house. Captain 
C and his wife, three sons and their wives, and six unmar- 
ried daughters, all put their hands to the plough that day, and 
other large families were almost wholly taken." Athens, with 
its joint appointment at Townsend, now reports nearly two 
hundred members. 

In our sketch of William Anson, we have referred to his 
appointment and success as the pioneer of Methodism on Grand 
Isle, Vt. One of his successors'^ has recorded the following 
particulars respecting the church planted by him there. "It 
appears from the Minutes, that as early as 1788, a Methodist 
preacher, of the name of Samuel Wigton, was sent to a circuit 
called Lake Champlain ; but there is no return of members. 
Two preachers were sent the following year; but still there 
were no returns. The Minutes are silent, in respect to this 
part of the country, from 1789 to 1798, when Joseph Mitchell 
and Abner Wood were appointed to Vergennes circuit, which 
stretched along nearly, or quite, the whole eastern shore of Lake 
Champlain, and extended into Canada. One hundred and 
eighty-five members of the church were returned at the end of 
the year. The year following, the northern part of this circuit 
was formed into another, called Essex, to which Lorenzo Dow 
was appointed. The southern part, bearing still the name of 
Vergennes, was travelled by Joseph Mitchell and Joseph Sawyer. 
This year, namely, 1799, Alexander McLane was sent to Platts- 
burg circuit, then first formed, which extended along the west 
shore of the lake. The Minutes give no account of members 
on Plattsburg circuit that year; but, in 1800, one hundred and 

♦ Rev. Wm. Ballard. 



% 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 245 

seven members of society were returned. The entire ground 
around the lake was occupied, during the years 1800 and 
1801 ; but no Methodist clergyman had, as yet, set foot on the 
islands. Anson was sent to them in 1802. With his new 
credentials as deacon, and in full connection with his compan- 
ions in toil, consecrated to the service of his Divine Master, and 
with a heart burning with love to God and man, he mounted 
his steed, and directed his course towards his distant charge. 
After several days of toilsome travel, he arrived at the ' Bar,' on 
the eastern shore of the lake. He surveyed the Grand Isle, then 
directly before him, and but a mile or two distant. He was, at 
length, about to step upon his field of labor, but upon ground 
untrodden before by the Itinerant; — unattended by any col- 
league ; with no one to introduce him ; with no kind family that 
he had ever heard of to receive him ; without a solitary acquaint- 
ance, or even a letter of introduction to open his way before 
him, — he was not without some misgivings. The bar could 
not then be forded, on account of high water, and a float or raft 
was the only ferry. On this he embarked, and proceeded for a 
distance : but a wind blew him back. He embarked the second 
time, with a like result. He made the matter a subject of prayer 
and reflection, and concluded to try once more, and, if he should 
not succeed in reaching the island, he would regard it as an 
indication that the Lord had not sent him. His third trial was 
successful. He introduced himself to the first person he met 
upon the island, as a minister of the Gospel, and inquired for a 
place to preach on the next day, the Sabbath, but could learn of 
none. On his inquiry for a tavern, he received for answer, that 
there was one about two miles distant ; ' but,' added the inform- 
ant, 'I believe they have no rum at present.' Rum, in those 
days, was essential to a tavern. He rode to the tavern, nothing 
troubled on account of the thing lacking, and put up for the 
night. Here he introduced himself as a minister, and asked for 
a place to preach on the following day. Permission for preach- 
ing in the tavern was granted, and notice of the expected service 
was sent around. Arrangements being made for the Sabbath, 
Mr. Anson retired to rest. At break of day, the following 
2V^ 



246 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

morning, he was waked by the firing of cannon. He looked 
through his window and saw some men in the street with a 
field-piece, who had commenced the celebration of the Fourth 
of July, which occurred that year on the Sabbath. Surely, 
thought he, there must be some cause for the information he had 
received, that the people of these islands were a savage race, if 
they are more careful to celebrate Independence, when it occurs 
on the Sabbath, than they are to keep the Lord's Day. The 
fact that a Methodist preacher was on the island, and was going 
to preach, produced quite a sensation, and drew together a full 
congregation : and after Mr. Anson had delivered his message, 
the matter and manner of his preaching aflforded the people 
abundant material for thought and conversation. He proceeded 
to organize his circuit, in doing which he scattered his appoint- 
ments over the islands, and extended them into Canada. In 
prosecuting his work, Mr. Anson met with no small amount of 
difficulty. Though his congregations were fair, and there were 
enough to extend to him their generous hospitalities, the gen- 
erality of the people received him coldly. Those that were 
religious belonged to other denominations, had their prejudices 
against the Methodists, and looked upon him with distrust, and 
some even with despite, regarding him as one of those ' that 
crept into houses,' &;c. Mr. Anson was faithful in his labors, 
and was favored of the Lord. A revival prevailed, Classes were 
formed, and a permanent circuit was established. At the close 
of the year he returned one hundred and two church-members. 
Ever since the arrival of Anson, religion has been in a prosperous 
condition throughout the territory which he originally erected into 
a circuit. As was the case everywhere in the commencement 
of the labors of Methodist ministers, beginnings were small. 
There was much of prejudice, indiflference, and opposition, from 
various sources, to contend against; but these things dimin- 
ished, as the labors of the Itinerant continued. Revivals com- 
menced and went on : and almost, if not quite every year, up to 
the present time (1850), souls have been converted to God. 
Only three first gave their names as probationers ; but the 
leaven continued to work, and others were soon added. Anson 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HABIPSHIRE. 247 

preached in barns, in private houses (mostly then log cabins), in 
school-houses, and sometimes in the grove ; and so did his suc- 
cessors for many years. Sometimes the permission to preach 
in a given place was allowed but a short time, when a new 
place must be sought. The aged members relate many 
things of thrilling interest that occurred in these earlier times, 
particularly their large and spirit-stirring Quarterly Meetings. 
They were small in the outset, the first one being held in a 
private house, and the Love Feast made up of about half a dozen 
persons. But, in a few years, they presented a widely different 
appearance. They cannot now be, in every particular, what 
they were in those early times, inasmuch as the charges have 
become very much diminished and restricted in territory, and 
there are necessarily fewer to attend them. They seem to have 
possessed uncommon interest in these islands. Occurring but 
once a year, or once in two years, in a place, they never lost 
their novelty. All were eager to attend them. Every prepar- 
ation was made to start at a seasonable hour, according to the 
distance, to arrive in time ; and some would be on their way 
before the day appeared. The canoe and the ' small boat ' were 
sometimes in requisition. They met; they exchanged their 
ardent greetings. They looked with veneration and love on the 
impressive, weather-worn features of the Presiding Elder, whom 
they saw on no other occasion. They listened with rapture to 
his message, as of special import to them. When the hymn 
was given out, they all sung that could sing, and there were few 
that could not. At the close of the fervent petitions of prayer, 
the hearty amen arose from scores of v/orshippers on their knees. 
When they were stationed for the night, sixty, seventy, — some 
say, even a hundred, — would sometimes be quartered in a single 
family. To the question. How many will you take ? as many as 
I have planks in my floors, would sometimes be the generous 
reply. Their prayer-meetings, on these quarterly occasions, 
have been known to last the entire night. Their Love Feasts 
were Love Feasts indeed ! When they had listened to the word 
on the Sabbath, and had celebrated the dying love of the 
Redeemer, they returned with renewed spiritual strength to their 



248 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

homes. Not only did the people of God resort to these meetings, 
but thither those who were seeking religion repaired ; and from 
every Quarterly Meeting more or less of such returned converted 
to God, while others went away awakened to seek and find him 
in times to come. Thirty-five different laborers have cultivated 
this field. Several of them have already laid down the cross to 
take the crown : though dead, they live, because their Saviour 
lives. Among the worthy individuals that have graced this circuit 
was Eev. Asel Landon. He early joined the church, and was 
soon called to act in an official capacity. In 1809 he was licensed 
to preach. In due time he took orders. He faithfully served the 
church twenty years in the local ministry, when God said to 
him, * Come up higher.' In his death the church sustained a 
loss which, to this day, it hardly seems to have recovered from. 
Rev. Seymour Landon, son of the preceding, had his birth and 
education on this island. He is now a Presiding Elder in the 
New York East Conference. Rev. Thomas Marvin was, at 
first, prejudiced against the Methodists, and opposed them ; but 
afterwards became connected with them, and a local preacher. 
He still lives, an ornament and a pillar in the church, and has 
two sons in the ministry. Others were raised up to the work 
of the ministry, and many of the leading members of the 
community became members of the church. From the steward's 
book it appears that the records were kept with a good degree 
of accuracy in the first years of the existence of the charge. It 
seems to have been the custom then, as it is now, with some 
Presiding Elders, to inquire into the religious state of the official 
members. The following record was made in 1805 : — ' All the 
members examined, and mostly happy, and determined to serve 
God.' The next year it was recorded : ' The preachers and Class- 
leaders are mostly happy in God.' In 1807 the record of one of 
the Quarterly Conferences states, that the ' examination among 
the members composing the same found the moral character 
of all irreproachable.' An entry in the following year states, 
that, ' in examining the members, they were found determined, 
by grace, to live for God, and in general happy, many thirsting 
after holiness of heart.' Owing to so much crossing of water, the 



EARLY CHURCHES IN VERMONT AND NEW HAMPSHIRE. 249 

travel on this circuit, in its original extent, was hard and difficult ; 
doubtless more so than on any other charge in the Conference. 
It was also dangerous. No preacher, however, has yet lost his 
life ; but one, like Paul of old, was once ' a night and a day in 
the deep,' and perhaps suffered more than did the great Apostle. 
This was Rev. H. B. Taylor. In connection with two other 
men, he was crossing the lake from the New York State side to 
the Isle Amotte, on a scow. A wind capsized the vessel. This 
was in December. A fall of snow prevented them from being 
seen ; their cries could not be heard for the roaring of the waters ; 
only the edge of the scow came out, and all they could do was 
to hold fast to the boat, with only their heads and hands out of 
the water, when the waves were not breaking over them ; and 
they were in the middle of the lake, with no hope but in the 
almost imperceptible drifting of the scow. The capsizing took 
place about four o'clock in the afternoon, and the boat, by drift- 
ing, reached the shore about three o'clock the next morning. 
After being eleven hours in the water, they gained the land, in 
so chilled, frozen and exhausted a state, that they could not 
stand. By locking arms and bracing against each other, they 
managed to get to a house near by, and raised the inmates. 
Brother Taylor, at this time, was engaged in transporting lum- 
ber for a church that he was engaged in building. He had the 
privilege, too, of preaching faith to his two companions, who 
were irreligious, and who expected to perish." 

Methodism has had much success among these islands, and 
the original appointment of Grand Isle is now divided into four 
districts and charges. 



CHAPTER XXL 

CONFERENCES OF 1804. 

Asbmy. —New York Conference. — Asbury travelling in New England. —At New Haven. 
— General Lippett's. — Abraham Bemis' Homestead. — Lynn. — New England Conference 
at Buxton, Me. — Proceedings. — Sabbath Scenes. — Great Revivrd. 

Asbury, having traversed the country to Tennessee in the west, 
and Georgia in the south, since the Ashgrove Conference, was 
on Saturday, ninth of June, 1804, again in New York city, on 
his northern tour. The preachers were assembling for the New 
York Conference, which was to begin on the next Tuesday. On 
Sunday, Asbury preached in the old John-street chapel, exhort- 
ing the brethren, both lay and clerical, to "hold fast the profes- 
sion of their faith, without wavering." It was an appropriate 
time for such an admonition. The trials of Methodism were yet 
formidable ; many of the preachers came to the Conference with 
the design of locating^ and on the morrow he received intelli- 
gence that one of the most able men in the Itinerant ranks, 
Thomas Lyell, was about to retire into the ministry of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal church. 

On Tuesday, the 12th, the New York Conference commenced 
its session in the metropolis."^ We have scarcely any informa- 
tion respecting its proceedings. Asbury says, " It may suffice 
to say that our present Conference was a happy one, and a Con- 
ference of great business. We had sermons every day at noon. 
Fourteen deacons and eight elders were ordained ; these last, at 
the Bowery church, where I preached upon 2 Tim. 4: 1 — -4. 
By hard labor I read off the stations on Saturday night, and our 
Conference sat on Monday. We proclaimed a fast, with prayer, 
for the Methodists, the health of the city, the general church, 

* From Asbury's Journals, it would appear that the session began on Monday, the 11th ; 
but they are full of inaccuracies. 



MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 251 

and the continent. N. Snethen gave us a melting, nervous dis- 
course, on the occasion." 

On Wednesday, 20th, he was again reposing himself on the 
border of New England, at the home of the " Sherwoods," where 
he tarried two days. On Saturday, he reached New Haven, 
and preached the next day, " to a few souls," in " our small meet- 
ing-house." Thomas Branch and Sylvester Hutchinson were 
with him, and preached also during the day and evening. He 
lamented over the prevalence of religious indifference in New 
Haven, and recorded there an unusually emphatic expression 
of the official afflictions to which he was subject. " I have little 
leisure," he says, " to journalize. My soul has constant peace 
and joy, notwithstanding my labors, and trials, and reproach, — 
which I heed not, though it come, as it sometimes does, from the 
good, when they are not gratified in all their wishes. People 
unacquainted with the causes and motives of my conduct will 
always, more or less, judge of me improperly. Six months ago, 
a man could write to me in the most adulatory terms, to tell me 
of the unshaken confidence reposed in me by preachers and 
people : behold, his station is changed, and certain measures are 
pursued which do not comport with his views and feelings : then 
I am menaced with the downfall of Methodism ; and my influ- 
ence, character, and reputation, are all to find a grave in the 
ruins. First, my hill is made so strong that I shall never be 
moved; anon, oh man, thou hidest thy face and changest thy 
voice, and I must be troubled, forsooth ! But I am just as secure 
as ever, as to what man can do or say. Should this journal 
ever see the light, those who read it, when I am gone, may, per- 
haps, wonder that ever I should have received such letters, or 
had such friends. Yes, gentle reader ; both have been. Who, 
then, shall I believe ; and who shall I trust? Why, who but a 
good, and true, and never-failing God ? " 

On Monday, he left New Haven for the eastward, accom- 
panied by Sylvester Hutchinson, who was now his travelling 
companion. " We took the path," he says, " to Durham : here 
we stopped, as there was room for us in the inn to lodge. On 
Tuesday, we passed through Middletown, and found that our 



252 CONFERENCES OF 1804. 

brethren were about to purchase a lot on which to build a chapel 
on a small scale. We rode on to Hebron. I have made four 
hundred and twenty miles since I took my departure from Balti- 
more, May 26th. At Canterbury we lodged at Captain Lyons' : 
the day's ride brought us through Windham and Scotland." 

On Friday evening, 29th, he arrived at General Lippett's, in 
Cranston, Rhode Island, where, as usual, he was bountifully 
received. He continued there through Saturday and Sun- 
day. On Sunday, Asbury delivered, in Lippett's chapel, an 
expository discourse on 1 John 1 : 3 — 7. Hutchinson preached 
in the afternoon. It " was a glorious season," says Asbury. 
The next day they directed their course towards the rural retreat 
of Bemis, at Waltham, where they arrived on Tuesday, after a 
ride, during the day, of " nearly thirty miles, without food or 
rest, for man or beast." It was mid-summer, and all nature 
invited the weary Itinerants to repose. " On Wednesday, Thurs- 
day, and Friday, I rested, and read and wrote as my failing 
eyes would permit. My soul is in great peace." 

On Saturday, 7th of July, they reached Lynn. " On the 
Sabbath day, I preached," says Asbury, " upon 1 John 3 : 1, 2, 
3. The state of the society in this town is more pleasing than 
formerly. Peter Jayne, brought up amongst them, is an accept- 
able preacher. A house is begun for the preachers to live in. 
Sylvester Hutchinson preached in the afternoon : I spoke also, 
and read letters giving an account of the work in the south. 
O ! when shall we see such things in New England ! " They 
urged their way on rapidly to Buxton, Maine, the seat of the 
New England Conference, where they arrived on Friday night, 
July 13th. The preachers had already assembled from their 
dispersed circuits, and were refreshing each other with public 
rehgious services. 

On Saturday, the 14th of July, 1804, began the Buxton 
session of the New England Conference, an occasion still remem- 
bered by many old Methodists of Maine, for its remarkable 
spiritual interest. The roll contained the following names : 
George Pickering, Joshua Taylor, Thomas Lyell, Joshua Soule, 
Aaron Humphrey, Joseph Snelling, Comfort C. Smith, Daniel 



CONFERENCES OF 1804. 253 

Webb, Reuben Hubbard, Asa Heath, Epaphras Kibby, Peter 
Jaj^ne, Alexander McLean, Joseph Baker, Samuel Hillman, and 
Joseph Shane. The last four were deacons, the others elders. 
Soule, Lyell, Webb, Smith, Kibby, and Shane, were absent. A 
number of probationers were present, whose names are not given. 
Asbury writes that on Saturday they "admitted and elected 
nine deacons and two elders." The latter were Samuel Hill- 
man and Joseph Baker; the former, William Goodhue, David 
Bachelor, Philip Hunger, Nehemiah Coye, Dan Perry, Allen 
H. Cobb, Daniel Ricker, Thomas Ravlin, and Alfred Metcalf. 

During the day Peter Jayne preached. He was a young man 
of preeminent talents, and produced a deep impression. " It was 
a good season," notes the secretary of the Conference, "and 
some, we think, were converted." 

Sunday was a day of great interest. A vast multitude had 
assembled, — some from distant towns, — and the crowd was too 
large for the chapel. A meeting for prayer and exhortation was 
held in the chapel at eight, a. m., after which the throng sought 
accommodation in a neighboring grove, where Asbury, at ten 
o'clock, began to preach to them on the ascension^ and the com- 
mencement therefrom of the Apostolic Itinerancy. His text was 
Mark. 16 : 19, 20. In about forty minutes, the clouds gathered, 
and the assembly was compelled by the rain to retreat to the 
chapel. Pickering went into the pulpit, and preached on Christ, 
"the High Priest of our profession." Heb. 3 : 1. "A goodly 
number of souls," says the Journal, " were, we trust, converted 
this day." Asbury writes, " There were powerful exercises in 
the meeting-house, until near six o'clock : the Lord appeared — 
several souls were brought under distress. I trust the fruits of 
this day's labor will be seen in eternity." 

Monday morning was spent in " the examination of charac- 
ters." The ordination service having been postponed from the 
Sabbath, on account of the weather, was held at two o'clock, 
p. M. Asbury preached from a hay-cart in the grove, on Paul's 
exhortation to Timothy, 2 Tim. 2 : 1 — 7. He describes it as 
" an open time ; " " the work of God broke forth," he says, " on 
the right and on the left." A great sensation spread among the 
22 



254 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

multitude, and before the session closed it was estimated that 
fifty persons were converted. Snelling says, " There was a 
greater display of Divine power at this Conference than any I 
ever attended. Many of the people were wrought upon in a 
very powerful manner ; but, as is generally the case, there was 
some opposition. At one meeting, a man, appearing to be in a 
violent passion, came in, exclaiming, ' This is confusion ; no 
good will result from this meeting.' He then called for his wife, 
bidding her leave the house immediately. She urged him to 
stay a little longer. ' No,' said he, — * let us go.' He then 
started to go out, and went as far as the door, when he paused 
a few moments, then turned back, fell upon his knees, and 
prayed for mercy as earnestly as any in the house. The 
assembly was so large it was deemed expedient to meet in a 
grove, the meeting-house not being large enough to contain the 
people. The preachers were placed in different directions in the 
grove, praying and exhorting. The people would gather round 
them in companies, similar to what are called praying circles at 
camp-meetings. In the circle which I was in, there were eleven 
persons who professed to be brought from darkness to light ; 
besides many others who were inquiring what they must do to 
be saved." 

The report of the Financial Committee is too imperfect to 
admit of any accurate estimate of the receipts of the preachers.^ 
There were S383 towards meeting the deficit. The usual 
contribution from Baltimore Conference is acknowledged. It 
amounted to more than a hundred dollars. 

On Tuesday the business of the session was hastened to a 
conclusion. Asbury read the appointments ; an evening service 
was held for the public, which was attended with powerful 
effect, and early the next morning the preachers were on horse- 
back for their distant posts. They had been refreshed by their 
mutual counsels, but above all by the marvellous outpouring of 
the Holy Spirit which had fallen upon the village during the 
session, and they went forth renewedly imbued with power from 
on high, for their self-sacrificing work. 

* The page assigned for it in the records is left blank. 



CONFERENCES OF 1804. 255 

Asbury, accompanied by Hutchinson, was en route in haste, 
as usual, and reached Effingham, N. H., by night. They con- 
tinued on their course rapidly, sometimes passing over forty or 
forty-five miles a day, and on the 26th found rest at Rhinebeck, 

N. Y. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 

Ecclesiastical AiTangements for the Tear. — Samuel Cochrane.— His Labors. — Character.-^ - 
Death. — Zalmon Lyon. — His Death and Character. — Eben Smith. — Early Experience. 
— Labors and Death. — Lewis Bates. — Early EeUgious Impressions. — Labors in the 
Ministry. — Special Experience. — Character. 

The appointments for the year in New England were the 
following : 

Vermont District. Joseph Crawford, Presiding Elder. 
Magog, Ebenezer Fairbank; Danville, Phineas Peck, Andrew 
Kernagan ; Barre, Oliver Beale ; Verskire, John Robertson, 
David Goodhue ; Barnard, Paul Dustin, Moses Currier; Weth- 
ersfield and Woodstock, Luther Chamberlain; Athens, Asa 
Kent, James Young ; Whittingham, John Pinkham. 

New Habipshire District. John Brodhead, Presiding 
Elder. Lunenburg, Joel Winch ; La7idaff, Thomas Skeel, 
William Stevens ; Bridgewater, Caleb Dustin, Lewis Bates ; 
Hanover, Elijah Hedding; Grantham, Elijah Willard, Dan 
Young. 

New London District. Daniel Ostrander, Presiding Elder. 
Rhode Island, A. McLane, D. Burge, Clement Parker; New Lon- 
don, Abner Wood, Benjamin Hill ; Pomfret, Thom.as Branch, 
Noble W. Thomas ; Tolland, John Gove ; Granville, Joshua 
Crowell, Luman Andrus; Middletow7i, Ebenezer Washburn, 
Nathan Emery; Litchfield, Zalmon Lyon, Eben Smith; Ash- 
burnham, Thomas Ravlin. 

Boston District. George Pickering, Presiding Elder. Bos- 
ton, Epaphras Kibby ; Lynn, Veter Jayne ; Ma7'blehead, B.ea- 
ben Hubbard; Nantucket, Truman Bishop; Provincetown, 
Alfred Metcalf; Sandwich, Joseph Snelling; Needham, Nehe- 
miah Coye, Joel Wicker ; Hawke, David Bachelor, Samuel 
Thompson ; Salisbury, Daniel Webb, Ebenezer Easty ; Bristol, 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 257 

Alexander McLane ; Providence, Asa Pattie, D. Burge, C. 
Parker. 

District of Maine. Joshua Soule, Pi-esiding Elder. Port' 
larid, Joshua Taylor ; Falmouth, Philip Munger. Poland, True 
Glidden ; Scarboro\ Asa Heath ; Readjield, Joseph Baker ; 
Bethel, Allen H. Cobb ; Hallowell, Aaron Humphrey, Dan 
Perry ; Norridgewock, Daniel Ricker ; Penobscot, William 
Goodhue ; Union River, Thomas Perry ; Bristol, Samuel Hill- 
man ; TJjiion, David Stimson ; Bowdoinham, Daniel Dudley. 

To these should be added the following, which pertained to 
the New York Conference, viz. : 

AsHGROVE District. Daniel Brumley, Presiding Elder. 
Adains, Laban Clark ; Cambridge, Elias Vandeiiip and Phineas 
Cook ; Brandon, Seth Crowell ; Vergennes, James M. Smith ; 
Fletcher, Samuel Draper, Gershom Pease ; Grand Isle, Samuel 
Cochrane. Also, on the New York district, under the Pre- 
siding Eldership of William Thatcher, Redding, Peter Moriarty 
and Sylvester Foster. 

The ecclesiastical arrangements for the year, in the Eastern 
States, comprehended, according to this outline, six districts and 
part of a seventh ;^ fifty-two circuits, and eighty-one preachers. 
There had been a gain, in the last year, of one district and four 
circuits, but a decrease of five preachers. While the increase of 
the districts indicates the growth of the church, by indicating 
the increase of its business, the variations in the number of the 
circuits is not always an equally sure evidence, as they were 
frequently merged in or detached from one another. The present 
instance, in which there was an increase of circuits with a 
decrease of preachers, is to be explained by the fact that fewer 
circuits than usual had two laborers. 

Among the names of preachers who appeared for the first time 
this year, in the Eastern States, is that of Samuel Cochrane, 
a worthy veteran of the ministry. He was born in Halifax, 
Vt., August 31, 1778, and converted in his 22nd year. In 
1802 he commenced his public career as an exhorter ; he subse- 

* We reckon the Ashgrove district as in the Eastern States, only two of its circuits 
being wholly within New York. 

22=^ 



258 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

quently labored as a local preacher, and in the latter part of 
1803 was called out by the Presiding Elder into the ministerial 
field, and sent to Fletcher circuit, Vt. At the New York Con- 
ference of the present year, he was received on probation, and 
appointed to Grand Isle circuit, Vt. He afterwards travelled 
successively Vergennes, Vt., and Litchfield, Ct., circuits. Fol- 
lowing the example of other heroic men of his day, he volun- 
teered as a missionary to Canada, and was appointed success- 
ively to the St. Lawrence and Quebec circuits. Returning to 
the States, he received, down to 1841, the following appoint- 
ments : — Whittingham, Vt., Pittsfield, Mass., Pownal, Vt., New 
York city, Goshen, N. Y., Dutchess, N. Y. (three times), Suf- 
folk, N. Y., Jamaica, N. Y., Redding, Ct., Hudson, N. Y., New 
Rochelle, N. Y. (twice), New York east circuit, Milan, N. Y. 
During thirty-eight years did this devoted ambassador of Christ 
perform effective duty, in the hard service of the Itinerancy. In 
1841-2 he was placed on the supernumerary list. In 1843 he 
w^as transferred to the ranks of the superannuated preachers, 
where he remained till his death, which took place at Pough- 
keepsie, in the spring of 1845. His brethren of the New York 
Conference bear a good testimony for him. They say : " Brother 
Cochrane was truly a man of God. In labors he was abundant 
and successful. Many through his instrumentality were con- 
verted. Though firm, he was mild in the administration of dis- 
cipline, and the blessing of the ' peace-maker ' rested upon him. 
In all the domestic and social relations he was kind and affec- 
tionate, and as a pastor beloved by his people. Brother C. was 
literally worn-out in his Master's service, yet he might have lin- 
gered a while annong us, had not his progress to the tomb been 
accelerated by several paralytic strokes. His death, though not 
unexpected, was sudden. Having left the dinner-table, and 
seated himself in an adjoining room, his wife heard a noise, and 
hastening to a,scertain the cause, found him prostrate upon the 
floor. His hour had come — he spoke no more, but closed his 
eyes and expired. During his sickness his mind had been calm 
and peaceful." =^ 

* Minutes of 1846. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 259 

Zalmon Lyon was another example of the devotion and purity 
of character which marked our primitive ministry. He was 
born in Weston, Ct. Of his early life we know nothing. When 
he joined the Conference the present year, he was somewhat 
advanced in age ; but he did faithful service fourteen years, in 
the effective ranks of our Itinerancy. In 1818 he was returned 
superannuated. He died on the 13th of August, 1839. After an 
absence of some time from the place of his residence, on a visit to 
his friends, he returned in ill health, expressing his gratitude 
and pleasure at being permitted to see again his neighbors and 
brethren, and declaring that he had come back to die among 
them. He requested that his remains might be placed by the 
side of his beloved wife, who had died some three years pre- 
viously. " From this time," say his brethren, " without any par- 
ticular disease, he gradually sank under the infirmities of age ; 
but while the outward man was perishing, the inward rnan was 
renewed day by day ; — his soul was calm and peaceful ; — 
patience had its perfect work, and not a murmur escaped his 
lips." ^ He lived at " Sugar Loaf," N. Y., twenty years, and 
acquired, by the transparent purity of his character, an extraordi- 
nary local influence. He was the counsellor of the community in 
all questionable matters, the arbitrator of its litigations. " In fact, 
such was his influence among the people in his neighborhood, that 
his very presence would quell any disturbance that might arise in 
the streets, or in the house of public entertainment; and tw one 
was found sufficiently hardy to give him a disrespectful word. 
Brother Lyon, in an eminent sense, might be styled a peace- 
maker. He had gained the affections of the people, who mani- 
fested their kind regard for him, not in word only, but also in 
deed and in truth. For a number of years they were in the 
habit of paying him an annual visit, at the same time contrib- 
uting liberally to his support." 

He was eminently practical and experimental in his preach- 
ing; and a man of such a life could preach with authority. His 
fellow-laborers regarded him with a warm affection and profound 
veneration. They conclude his obituary notice with this 

* Minutes of 1839-40. 



260 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

emphatic testimony : " As a Christian, he possessed a character 
unblemished ; — saint and sinner had the utmost confidence in 
his integrity ; — they both loved him ; — and when, in a good 
old age, he gathered up his feet to go to his fathers, they both 
embalmed him with their tears. Hail, venerated saint ! thy 
work is done, and thou hast gone to thy reward." 

Eben Smith was born of devout parents, in Lenox, Mass., 
July 18, 1774. His early religious education resulted in its usual 
consequence, early conversion. He was but thirteen years old 
when he passed from death unto life ; and so remarkable was 
the work of grace within him, that he knew his sins forgiven, 
though he was acquainted with no other person who avowed the 
same satisfactory experience. He maintained this lively evi- 
dence of Divine acceptance through two or three years ; but not 
finding any church the doctrines of which concurred with his 
own, he imprudently continued alone, and lost much of his spir- 
itual confidence and comfort. During ten years he " remained 
cold and comfortless." By marriage he became connected with 
the first Methodist with whom he enjoyed acquaintance, and was 
induced by her influence to attend the Methodist services in 
Great Barrington, Mass. A revival of religion prevailed there, 
at this time, under the labors of Allen Miller, a local preacher. 
Mr. Smith recovered his lost ground, and entered zealously into 
the religious interest which surrounded him. A Class was 
formed, of which he became a useful leader. He was afterwards 
successively licensed as an Exhorter and Local Preacher, and in 
1803 was sent by Daniel Ostrander, then Presiding Elder of 
New London district, to Litchfield circuit, Ct. Having thus 
providentially entered upon the labors of the Itinerancy, he per- 
severed to the end. He was received on trial, at the present 
date, by the New York Conference, and continued to labor 
effectively, for nearly thirty years, in New England and New 
York. He was several years a Presiding Elder, and a member 
of four sessions of the General Conference. During seven years 
he was on the supernumerary list, and the last four years he 
was reported among the superannuated. He is characterized as 
an ardent lover of Methodism, an attached friend, and as 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 261 

guarded in his remarks about the absent. He began his labors 
in the perilous times of the church, and shared courageously its 
trials. " In all his privations, labors and sufferings, he never 
sought retirement from the arduous duties of our Itinerancy, 
but went on rejoicing in his God, and in the prosperity of his 
cause." ^ 

In 1842 he was attacked by paralysis. " It pleased God to 
preserve him a while longer ; but, during the winter of 1844, a 
complication of diseases developed themselves. Asthma and 
dropsy, combining with his already greatly debilitated condition, 
rendered it more than probable that he could not long survive. 
Under these accumulated afflictions he spent the last few months 
of his life ; and though it was manifest to all that he was rapidly 
sinking, yet his sufferings were not extreme. God was merciful 
to him ; not a murmur fell from his lips. He expected his end, 
and was fully prepared to meet it. Blessed with his reason, he 
took pleasure in conversing with his family on his approaching 
dissolution, and often expressed his 'anxiety to go.' While in 
hourly expectation of the event, he said to his son, he had 
always had a dread of the pains of death, however fully pre- 
pared to meet it; but now he could find no dread, no shrinking 
even of the flesh. And on the 18th of May, 1844, in the seven- 
tieth year of his age and the fortieth of his ministry, at his 
own residence, in Milton, Ulster county, N. Y.,he departed this 
life in great peace of mind, in full confidence and hope of 
eternal life, through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Lewis Bates still survives, one of the few remnants of the 
ministry of the early day now under review. Hale in health, 
active in labors, ever cheerful in his piety, he is familiar and 
beloved throughout our borders. He was born in Cohasset, 
Mass., March 20, 1780, and is a descendant, in the seventh 
generation, of John Eogers, the martyr. He remained at 
Cohasset till twelve years old. " These twelve years," he writes,! 
" passed not without many solemn thoughts of eternity." On 
removing to Springfield, Vt., about his twelfth year, his religious 
impressions deepened, and induced him to pray much in secret. 

* Minutes of 1843-4. t Letter to the author, 



262 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" The next year, when thirteen, in the month of April, on the 
holy Sabbath, while reading the Bible, the Spirit of God fell 
upon me, and pierced my heart to the centre, and laid open to 
my view the deep depravity of my nature and the self-righteous- 
ness of my attempts at reform, the holiness of God, the purity 
and claims of the law. Alarm, terror, despair, and dread sur- 
prise, swept through my aching heart. I dropped my book, and 
fled to a lonely hiding-place in the barn, and gave myself up to 
God through Jesus Christ, the sinner's only hope and help, in 
faith and prayer. After praying some time, in an instant, as 
sudden as the electric shock, God spoke my sins forgiven, swept 
my load of guilt away, and filled my new-born soul with peace 
and love. There being no living Christians, ministers, or 
churches, nor revivals of pure and undefiled religion, and noth- 
ing said or done about it within my acquaintance, I some time 
time after lost the overflowing enjoyment. But I still continued 
praying in secret, twice a day on week-days, and three times on 
the Sabbath ; and so zealous was I that when I was going to 
take an early start for a day of amusement, I would pray twice 
at night, for fear I should forget it in the hurry of the next 
morning. Thus I continued in ray simple and imperfect way, 
until 1800. God then converted a noted and learned infidel of 
my acquaintance, and called him to preach. A glorious reforma- 
tion followed; my mind was solemnly arrested with stronger 
thoughts of my eternal state beyond the grave ; and after a very 
sore conflict with the powers of darkness, God reclaimed me, 
and, pardoning all my back-slidings, restored my soul to his 
favor, and the glories of his salvation to me. I went on my 
way rejoicing, and in April, 1801, joined the M. E. church, 
with two others. Thus originated the Methodist society in 
Springfield, Vt. I still went on my heavenly way, happy in 
God, and expected to spend my days as a private member in 
the church ; but it was not long before my mind was solemnly 
impressed by the Spirit of God to preach the Gospel, and after 
great inward conflicts, on the 5th of Dec, 1802, I left all for 
Christ and his Gospel. I preached on Athens circuit, with 
Henry Eames, six weeks, and a glorious time it was ; God 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 263 

poured out his Holy Spirit, and brought many souls into his king- 
dom. Henry Martin was one of the converts of this reforma- 
tion ; he became a ' revival ' preacher, and died young, in Maine : 
also a young man by the name of Webster was converted at this 
time. He married a pious young lady; God blessed them with 
ten children ; by the last account I had of them, I learned that 
they were all converted and in the church ; three of the sons 
are in the ministry, and another is fitting for it. I afterwards 
travelled three weeks on Wethersfield circuit, with Bishop and 
Peck ; we had good meetings. Then Bro. Peck and I went, by 
the direction of the Presiding Elder, John Brodhead, to the 
north part of Vermont and Canada. Here I stayed eight 
months, and labored with delight ; many were brought to God 
through the exceeding riches of grace in Christ Jesus. Among 
those who were awakened was Francis Dane, who is now known 
in our ministry as ' Father Dane.' From this period Danville 
circuit, Vt., became a post of our regular work. At this time a 
youth by the name of Norris, who now is a preacher, was 
brought to God. In the fall of this year, 1803, I went on to 
Barnard circuit, with Asa Kent, and had good times ; part of it 
was old and part of it was new ground. Here I labored five 
months, and then was placed on Wethersfield circuit, Vt., with 
Phineas Peck. He soon left, and I had Moses Currier with me 
the rest of the time. We had reformations, and some very signal 
displays of the power of God ; many were struck down thereby, 
and converted or sanctified. In 1804 I joined the New York 
Conference, and was sent to Bridgewater circuit, N. H., with 
Caleb Dustin, John Brodhead being Presiding Elder. We com- 
menced our work in faith, praying for one hundred souls. How 
many were converted I know not, but we had an addition to the 
church of one hundred and thirteen, and so extended our field 
of labor that we called to our aid Langdon, Sampson, and Otis, 
and returned to the next Conference two new circuits, Tufton- 
boro' and Pembroke, N. H. In 1805 I was stationed on Tufton- 
boro', with twenty-three members in society, in two Classes, 
eight in Sandwich and fifteen in Tuftonboro', fifteen miles apart. 
I commenced my work in the name of the Lord and in the faith 



264 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of the Gospel. God poured out his spirit, and revived his work 
in great power and glory ; the holy flame spread ; the work of 
conviction, conversion and sanctification, extended. I had, 
during the year, to help me, Bros. Goodhue, Johnson, Bannister, 
and Stearns. This year I adopted the plan of calling mourners 
to the altar, at the suggestion of Hannah Harrington, a woman 
of great faith, powers, holiness, and usefuluess. One week I 
preached every day in different places, and some were struck 
down with the power of God at every meeting. On a Sabbath 
at Maj. Ethridge's, in Sandwich, thirteen thus fell ; on Tuesday, 
at Holderness, nine. This was a great year ; we added to the 
church one hundred and fifty members, and made one new 
circuit, Sandwich, N. H. 1806, I attended the New England 
Conference at Canaan, N. H. The territory I labored in was set 
off from New York Conference, to that of New England. I was 
ordained Deacon by Bishop Asbury, and stationed on Tufton- 
boro' circuit. Bro. Bannister was my colleague. We entered 
the field in faith and good courage, and the work of God spread." 

In 1807, he was respectively at Scarboro' and Livermore 
circuits, Me., where he was successful. " In 1808," he continues, 
"our Conference sat at New London, Ct. God was with us; 
it was emphatically a revival Conference. In the midst of the 
glory present, I was ordained Elder in the church of God. 
Pickering made the closing prayer, and while asking for the 
Holy Spirit to rest upon the new-made Elders, I felt a fresh bap- 
tism of the Pentecostal unction. My heart was inflamed for new 
battles and victories in the Gospel field. I was stationed on 
Tuftonboro' circuit, N. H., E. Hedding Presiding Elder. Bro. 
E. F. Newhall was my co-laborer. We went to our work in the 
spirit of our Master, in the midst of a good revival, with a great 
opening for the further spread of the Gospel. God continued 
the work; souls were converted, scores were baptized and 
admitted into the church, and our borders were enlarged." 

He labored successively on Pembroke, N. H., Barnard, Vt., 
and Salisbury, Mass. From 1813 to 1817 he was located, on 
account of the domestic affairs of his father. During this time 
he travelled and preached considerably, for the spirit of Itiner- 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 265 

ancy lived within him ; and several " stations " have grown up 
where he helped to plant the truth. In 1817 he was readmitted 
into the Conference, and stationed on Vershire circuit, Vt. In 
1818 and 1819, he writes : " My lot was cast on La ndaff circuit, 
N. H. We moved on joyfully, serving God in the Gospel of his 
Son. In the fall my Presiding Elder, D. Kilbourn, being 
unwell, sent me to attend the Quarterly Meeting on Lunenburg 
circuit. On Saturda}?- and Sunday the blessing of God was upon 
us. On Monday evening I preached in Guildhall court-house, 
Vt. The spirit of the Lord was in our midst ; the people were 
moved. We lodged in the jailer's house ; he and his wife, and 
two others, were brought to God. On Tuesday evening I 
preached in Lancaster court-house, N. H ; the presence of God 
was manifested, and a gracious work commenced. Previous to 
this, two Methodist preachers had been persecuted and mobbed 
out of town. I made two more visits to this circuit, and 
preached from its south part up the Connecticut to Canada. The 
Lord made bare his holy arm; the excitement spread, and many 
were brought to God. Our camp-meeting was glorious ; the 
grace of God was manifested in Orford, north part of Con- 
cord, now Lisbon, — in what was called the Pine Woods, in 
Haverhill, — in the salvation of men, high, low, rich, and poor. 
Two preachers sprung from this reformation, John Lovejoy and 
N. Aspinwall. One rich, swearing, brandy-drinking, giant 
sinner, that struck Bro. Willard while preaching, was converted, 
and made into a humble Methodist.^^ In 1820 I was stationed 
on New London circuit. I travelled, to Conference at Nan- 
tucket and back and in moving to my charge, seven hundred 
and fifty miles. This was a large field, with eight or ten hun- 
dred members, and many appointments ; but we had a number 
of good local preachers to fill Sabbath appointments. God 
carried his work on ; — we had good times. Our camp-meeting 
was powerful ; one hundred found salvation at it. We made 
two circuits out of our work the next year, Hebron and Norwich. 
In 1821 I was stationed on the Norwich circuit. We had good 
times ; the work of God prospered ; we founded the first Class 

*Mr. Willard still bears the honorable scar of this blow. 

23 



266 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

in Lyme, at the mouth of Connecticut river. In 1822 my 
charge was Warwick, R. I. God poured out his Spirit, and 
souls were saved. In 1823 I was on Barnstable circuit. God's 
grace was manifested in great power and glory, convicting, con- 
verting, and sanctifying the people; over four hundred con- 
verted, among the different sects. To God be all the praise." 
In 1824 he travelled Chatham circuit, Mass., and in 1825-26, 
Well fleet and Truro. On the latter a revival began under the 
first sermon he preached, and continued through the two years. 
" We enjoyed," he says, " many displays of the pardoning and 
sanctifying grace of God ; scores were brought to the Lord. We 
built a neat parsonage house in Wellfleet, and a good meeting- 
house in Truro. This closed my four years' ministerial labor on 
the good old Cape ; one thousand souls were converted to God, 
and scores were perfected in love, during this time." During 1827 
and 1828 he travelled Salem, N. H., circuit, and in 1829-30 
had charge of Easton and Bridgewater, Mass. — " Two great 
years," he says ; " the power of God was displayed in the sal- 
vation of many. We enlarged our borders, built two new 
meeting-houses, and had a large addition to the church." 
Thus, wherever this veteran has labored, has more or less good 
resulted. His own narrative of his course is too illustrative of 
both the man and his times to be marred by amendments. 
His subsequent appointments have been as follows : 1831, Bris- 
tol, R. I.; 1832, Mansfield, Mass.; 1833-4, Weymouth, 
Mass.; 1835, Saugus, Mass.; 1836-7, Pembroke, Mass.; 
1838-9, Scituate, Mass. ; 1840, North-west and West Bridge- 
water, of which he says : " A great year of salvation : in West 
Bridgewater we commenced a protracted meeting ; it continued 
eight weeks ; the revival commenced in the middle of the first 
week, and continued through the meeting, and onward, until two 
hundred were converted, and several were sanctified. This 
work of God laid a strong and deep foundation for future good." 
1841, Taunton, Mass. ; 1842, Nantucket, Mass., where a great 
revival prevailed ; 1843, Falmouth, Mass. ; 1844, Dartmouth, 
Mass. ; 1845, Pembroke, Mass. ; 1846-7, West Sandwich, Mass. 
" These last two years of toil," he writes, " were not in vain, 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 267 

for we wound up with a glorious shaking of the dry bones ; the 
spirit of God fell upon the people ; many were awakened, con- 
verted, and sanctified, and the saints were quickened and com- 
forted." In 1849, he was at Hull, Mass., and 1850, Chilmark, 
Martha's Vineyard, Mass. In 1851, he took a superannuated 
relation, and resided in Whittington village, in Taunton, Mass. 
" And here," he writes, " God is pouring out his spirit upon us, 
and reviving his work." 

We need hardly add any remarks to this narrative. It is 
characteristic, and, without design, reveals the traits of the man, 
— his devotion, zeal, cheerful religious confidence, and living 
faith. " In the course of my labors and travels," he adds, " in 
the kingdom and the Gospel of God's dear Son, a large portion 
of the time breaking up new ground, I have worshipped God, 
with his people, in the populous sea-board towns and cities in the 
east, along the Atlantic coast, from the Kennebec, through the 
midland towns and country villages, to the banks of the Ohio, 
in the west ; and from Philadelphia, in the sunny centre, to 
the log-cabins of Canada, in the snowy north. In this time I 
have had my trials, temptations, persecutions, hard fare, and hard 
work, in common with the pioneers of Methodism. Some years, 
when a single man, I have received but from sixteen to eighteen 
dollars ; and after I had a family, fifty to sixty-five dollars. 
Some years it has cost me from twenty-five to one hundred and 
fifty dollars more than I received. When I united with the 
Methodists in 1801, I found on the Minutes 60,000 in the 
United States ; now, 1,200,000 bear the name, and in this time 
hundreds of thousands have been transferred from earth to 
heaven, and many that have been converted amongst us have 
joined other churches. In my family union I have been blessed 
with ten children : four are in heaven, and six on the way ; 
two of them are in the ministry. I have enjoyed many great man- 
ifestations of the power and grace of God, which either led me 
down into all the depths of a silent heaven, where I was filled 
with glory and with God, or carried me to Pisgah's sunny sum- 
mit, and moved me to shout ' Glory to God in the highest ! ' 
and break out and sing, 



268 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

' On Pisgah's cloudless height I stand, 
And view, by faith, the promised land ; 
On Hope's strong pinions soar away, 
In perfect Love's unclouded ray.' " * 

"Father Bates," as he is affectionately called in the church, 
is now more than seventy years of age; but he maintains, 
unabated the zeal and cheerfulness of his most vigorous years. 
The grace of God has wrought mightily in and through him. 
There are, doubtless, cases in which the Holy Spirit specially 
reveals his sanctifying power in the soul, and seals it unto 
eternal redemption. The great Edwards records such an epoch 
in his own Christian experience, when, as he meditated in a 
forest, his mind passed through most remarkable exercises, 
which melted him into unutterable emotion and tears. Mr. 
Bates has long enjoyed the inward witness of his entire accept- 
ance with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; but while at 
Pembroke, in the year 1845, he received a verv unusual mani- 
festation of the Spirit. " I received this year," he says, " in the 
lonely pine woods, near the line between Pembroke and Marsh- 
field, a deep and strong renewal of the gracious sealing of the 
Holy Spirit to the day of eternal redemption." 

In person he is stout, not tall, stooping slightly, with heavy 
eye-brows, a capacious head, a face the integuments and feat- 
ures of which are rounded, and expressive of the flow of happy 
religious feeling, which never seems to subside in his soul. 
His preaching abounds in anecdotes, and the consolatory truths 
of the Gospel. He has maintained, through his long career, a 
remarkably blameless life, and escaped the slightest unfavorable 
imputation. The time has not yet come for a full portraiture 
of his very interesting character. 

* Letter to the author. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 

Results of the Buxton Conference. — Revivals in Maine. — Trials in Vermont. — A Ludicrous 
Example. — The " Tithingman." — Vermont and New Hampshire Districts. — Camp- 
meeting. — Remarkable Scenes. — Middletown Circuit. — Persecution. — Statistics. 

The impression produced by the Buxton Conference was 
most salutary and wide-spread. Joshua Taylor, who was this 
year at Portland, wrote to Asbury, in about three weeks after 
the session, as follows : — " The subjects of the great work which 
you witnessed lived chiefly at a distance from the place of our 
Conference ; and of consequence, when they were to separate 
with the rising of the Conference, it was like pulling apart the 
fuel of a large fire. The heat abates upon the spot where it . 
had been kindled ; but I hope, in this instance, the several 
brands will be a means of kindling fires in various parts of the 
country. I have not ascertained the exact number who were 
converted in the time of the Conference ; but from the best 
account that I could get, it appears that between forty and fifty 
professed to find peace with God, besides a number who were 
awakened. It was, I believe, the greatest time that we have 
ever seen in New England. Every day was interesting and 
powerful, as there were more or less awakened or converted 
every day. But, among all the days, Monday appears to have 
been the most conspicuous for the displays of Divine power ; 
several who fell to the ground on that day, under the power of 
the word, appear now to be shining lights. I will mention one 
instance of which I did not know the circumstances fully till 
after your departure. Mr. Roberts, of Gorham, who had led a 
very wicked life, and from the distress which he had occasioned 
his father was called ' trial Roberts,' came from home on Mon- 
day morning, in a very high mood, as if he had been going to a 
23^ 



270 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

frolic. When the work began to be powerful, he opposed it; 
and having a sister in the crowd, he attempted to go in to bring 
her out. He had taken but a few steps before he fell to the earth, 
and began to cry for mercy. Others united in prayer for him, 
and before he left the place he found some comfort. He was, 
however, in great distress "afterward ; but was delivered in answer 
to prayer, while with two of his neighbors, in a field of corn ; 
after which, he went round among his acquaintances and con- 
nections, confessing his former sins, and proclaiming what great 
things God had done for him. At this the people have been 
struck with astonishment (for all, I believe, acknowledge it to 
be the power of God in him), and some have been awakened 
through his means." 

In December, 1804, Mr. Taylor again wrote to the bishop, 
giving the following information respecting several of the circuits 
in Maine : — "I am happy that it is in my power to cheer your 
hearts with good tidings from the east. The first Quarterly 
Meeting on Portland district, after your departure, was at 
Durham, in Bowdoinham circuit, which continued August 4th, 
5th, and 6th ; there was no opportunity to administer the sacra- 
ment, as is usual on the second day. In proportion to the num- 
ber of people, it was thought to be more powerful than the Bux- 
ton Conference. About twenty, it was believed, at the lowest 
calculation, experienced the pardoning grace of God ; and num- 
bers went away deeply wounded. From this meeting the tire 
spread into different parts of the circuit, and the work has been 
gradually going on ever since. The next Saturday and Sab- 
bath, we had Quarterly Meeting at Falmouth, and the Lord 
was present here also. A large number were awakened, and 
about six converted. Satan has since then taken some advantage 
of the society, by stirring up the seeds of discord, which, in a great 
measure, has proved fatal to the work. Had it not been for 
this, I believe Falmouth would have seen glorious times. The 
Lord was powerfully present at our three following Quarterly 
Meetings, at Poland, Bethel, and Readfield ; and, blessed be his 
name ! I hear that the work is still going on in different parts of 
the district. In the month of September our brethren held a 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 271 

field-meeting in Readfield, which proved to be a glorious and 
happy time ; there were thirteen preachers present, travelling 
and local. Brother Baker writes me in brief as follows : ' After 
the first sermon, there were exhortations and prayers till sinners 
began to fall and cry for mercy : and then we prayed for the 
mourners, as usual at such times ; the exercise continued until 
between three and four o'clock the next morning, and then, after a 
few hours' cessation, it began again ; thus we went on four days 
and nights successively, in which time between thirty and fifty 
were converted, and I presume a number were sanctified,' I have 
had several letters from Brother Baker since, and find that the 
work is prospering on the circuit. I will give you a few lines 
from Brother Cobb, on Bethel circuit : ' Within about ten weeks 
past, there have been about forty souls, or upwards, who have 
professed to find peace with God, chiefly in the town of Bethel. 
Of late the work is more powerful than ever. Last Sunday 
evening a week we met for a prayer-meeting, and it was a 
solemn time ; scarcely any in the house but were either weeping 
for their sins, or rejoicing in God. The heavens were propi- 
tious to our cries, and the skies poured down righteousness 
upon us. Six or seven found peace with God. Thursday 
evening following, we met again, and two or three more were 
brought into liberty ; and on the next Sabbath evening three 
or four more.' I believe, my dear sir, that the work was never 
so prosperous in this district as it is at the present time. Thus 
you see the fire which was kindled at the Buxton Conference, 
or, rather, before that period, is still burning. Those who 
experienced peace at the Conference I believe generally stand 
fast." 

The Itinerants in Maine were generally successful, and at the 
end of the ecclesiastical year they returned twenty-four hundred 
members of the church ; they had gained about three hundred 
since the last Conference, and added two circuits to their single 
district. 

We have already and repeatedly noticed the peculiar trials 
of the primitive Methodists in Vermont. Every means, from 
perilous rencontres to petty artifices, were used to retard their 



272 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

progress; and when it was found impossible not to tolerate 
them, it was, at least, determined not to respect them. Their 
opposers, failing to discourage them by menaces and mobs, often 
resorted to annoyances and ludicrous grievances, which might 
tend to render them a public jest. Asa Kent mentions numerous 
instances, characteristic "of the times, and proof of the slight 
public respect which had yet been accorded to the feeble societies 
of Methodism. An important officer of the " standing order," in 
that day, was the *' Tithingman,^^ who, armed with a long rod, 
at once weapon and staff of office, presided over the Sabbath 
congregations, with full power to remind unwary hearers, by a 
thrust from his wand, of any undue disposition to sleep, or 

other indiscretion. " In the town of W ," says Mr. Kent, 

" the population was sparse ; but they had the shell of a meeting- 
house, with rough boards for seats ; and having no minister, the 
Methodists were invited to occupy it on the Sabbath. Their 
preachers gave general satisfaction, except that some of them 
spoke too loud. But there was a sore grievance, which called 
for a speedy remedy. The Methodists, in those days, were 
often heard to respond to the preacher, by an audible ' Amen,' 
and at other times to exclaim, ' Glory to God ! ' and this 
was so different from the * still small voice,' that it was 
judged by some to be an intolerable disorder. While some were 
devising a remedy, one, more wise than his fellows, intimated 
that, if he should be appointed ' tithingman,' he would put a stop 
to such confusion. The next town-meeting appointed Mr. A. 
(for I shall so call him) to that office. He pledged his oath 
for his fidelity, and then requested the magistrate to give him 
definite instruction how to proceed. ' Why,' said the squire, 
*it is your duty to keep the people still in time of religious 
worship.' — ' But what if they will not be still?' inquired the 
young officer. — ' Then have your staff, and rap them on the 
head.' This was satisfactory, and he prepared his staff, which 
was a badge of his power. These staves were sometimes six 
or seven feet in length, that the officer might reach the offender 
without leaving his place. As there were no pews in the meeting- 
house, the men sat together on one side, and the women on the 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 273 

Other. Sabbath came, and Mr. A. walked in, staif in hand, and 
took his seat in the midst of the brethren. This was an eventful 
hour. Like modern office-seekers, he had come 'pledged' to 
office, and was about to make his debut under the scrutinizing 
eyes of his constituents. To add to his calamity, it was Quar- 
terly Meeting, and the members were in the habit, in those days, 
of travelling a great distance on such occasions, Bostwick was 
the Presiding Elder, himself a host, when the God of Sabaoth 
was in his message ; and, I think, Joseph Mitchell was the circuit 
preacher. When prayer was offered up, all the Methodists fell 
upon their knees (for this was formerly a universal custom) ; 
but our young officer stood up, with staff in hand, to suppress all 
disorder. A brother said * Amen,' and was instantly rapped 
upon his head. Another and another said ' Amen,' and each 
felt the rap. There was a shower of salvation before the 
preacher closed his prayer, and some shouted 'Glory,' and 
others ' Amen,' but each, in his turn, felt the rap ; and, to do his 
duty, Mr. A. sometimes reached as far as he could to the right, 
then to the left ; for they were kneeling around . him so closely 
that he could not move. He had as much as he could do to 
punish those within his reach, leaving those beyond to transgress 
with impunity. This exhibition was fine sport to a certain class 
of the congregation, while our members seemed to care nothing 
about it. But, during the preaching, our lover of order had new 
difficulties to contend with. When they had knelt, with their 
eyes closed, he stood, and wielded his authority with great 
adroitness ; but now he is seated with them, and even his love 
of order is not sufficient to induce him to stand and rap the 
heads of the disorderly. But when a faithful officer cannot 
do all that he would, he will not readily yield the point until 
he has done what he could. Mr. A. fixed his eye upon Brother 
S. Carpenter, of Rowe, as one of the most disorderly, and con- 
trived to bring him to a better mind. Brother C. was a man of 
an ardent spirit and a warm heart ; and although he had crossed 
the line of ' the old Bay State,' he never dreamed that the Ver- 
mont statute prohibited shouting, and of course felt himself 
perfectly at home among his brethren. He sat upon the seat 



274 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

before our officer, and about the length of his rod from him, the 
end of which he placed under his side ; and whenever Brother C. 
shouted, he would give him a jerk under his short ribs. This 
could be done without exposing himself to the congregation 
generally. The power of God was present to quicken and 
sanctify his children, and great was their rejoicing. Brother C. 
was gazing at the preacher, the tears flowing from his eyes, 
and often gave vent to an overflowing heart by shouts of ' Glory,' 
while owx friend of order gave him a faithful jerk for each trans- 
gression." 

This ludicrous persecution continued some time, to the 
amusement of lookers-on, and the annoyance, doubtless, of the 
worshippers. But the latter, on comprehending it, took the most 
efl^ectual means of rebuking it. They prayed directly in behalf 
of the " tithingman." The supplications of a Methodist prayer- 
meeting were perilous to the self-possession of gainsayers. The 
" tithingman " was foiled ; he retreated from his office, the jests 
of his associates were turned upon him, and he appeared no 
more, with his staff of office, to compel the Methodists to keep 
the peace. 

Notwithstanding the perils and mortifications which attended 
their labors in Vermont, the Itinerants pursued indomitably 
their course, and great revivals spread along their ministerial 
tours. Joseph Crawford and John Brodhead led on their bands 
of evangelists in New Hampshire and Vermont, with unyielding 
persistence and labors. Beale, Robertson, Crowell, Draper, 
Ryan, Hedding, Kent, Bates and their associates, were not the 
men to falter at difficulties. Their efforts were crowned with a 
large numerical increase. The returns of the two districts had 
amounted, at the preceding Conference, to 2529 members; they 
were now 2930. Besides these, there were nearly 1400 on cir- 
cuits in Vermont and New Hampshire which pertained to the 
Ashgrove and Boston districts. 

Other sections of the church were equally favored with the 
outpourings of the Spirit. William Thatcher commanded a 
powerful corps of preachers on the New York district, which 
extended into the centre of Connecticut. They held a camp-meet- 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 275 

ing daring the year. Thatcher wrote to Asbury the following 
account of it, from New Haven : — " Friday, the 14th of Septem- 
ber, we, with six travelling preachers present, began our camp-meet- 
ing. The melting power of God began with the exercises, which 
so overwhelmed the preacher that he could scarcely give out the 
hymn. After the first sermon and exhortation, we were joined 
by Brother Snethen,and about fifty Yorkers, with tents and bag- 
gage. We had preaching again in the evening. There was not 
a breeze to disturb the candles, the three nights we were on the 
ground. Evening exercise continued till after midnight. Num- 
bers, deprived of their strength, fell to the ground, — some awak- 
ened and some sanctified. Saturday, 15th, family prayer before six 
o'clock ; general prayer-meeting at eight ; preaching at ten, fol- 
lowed with prayer and exhortations ; preaching again, &c., at two. 
This day, ten travelling preachers, and about two thousand five 
hundred people, were present ; and, what was infinitely better, 
the mighty power of God was present to wound and to heal. 
Such a work of awakening, conversion, sanctification, and falling 
to the ground, by the power of God, my eyes, my heart, my soul, 
never witnessed. The exercises were regular and irregular; 
preaching was attempted in the evening, but in vain : the cries 
and shouts of the people drowned the preacher's voice. The 
exercises continued all night. On Sunday morning the people 
flocked from every direction ; the computation of numbers, that 
day, was from seven to eight thousand. Prayer-meeting at eight ; 
preaching half-past nine, by Nicholas Snethen, with mighty ener- 
gy ; two or three more sermons, and a number of prayers and ex- 
hortations, were delivered from the stand, and then a short inter- 
mission ; after which the worship continued, in different groups, 
till Monday, nine o'clock, when the Sacrament was administered 
to numbers, who were overwhelmed with love Divine. Then 
preaching, with great clearness, freedom and power, by Freeborn 
Garrettson : a lively, pathetic exhortation by Peter Moriarty, 
and a crowning discourse by Nicholas Snethen, while tears of joy 
flowed down the animated faces of the saints, shouts of rapture 
filled the place, and convictions seemed to fasten on every audi- 
tor. After a very fervent prayer, and the accustomed benedic- 



276 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

tion, the parting scene was truly aifecting. The preachers first 
shook hands on the stand ; then the people crowded up, by scores 
and by hundreds, their hands extended, their eyes glowing with 
tears, and their bosoms heaving with big emotion, took a most 
affectionate leave of each other, reluctantly struck their tents, 
and dispersed. Description sinks beneath the weight of facts. 
Such a scene I could not have conceived. The power increased 
during the whole meeting. Saints triumphing, penitents weep- 
ing, people falling, the voice of joy and sorrow mingling, prayer 
and praise filled the groves around. How many were awakened, 
converted and sanctified, at this meeting, could not be known by 
any of us. One man, who was intoxicated, and came into the 
assembly to make disturbance, was struck to the ground by an 
invisible power, and is since soundly converted, and has joined 
the church. A work of God has since spread into the neighbor- 
hood of the meeting. The Methodists carried the fire home to 
their respective neighborhoods and families. The different Love 
Feasts resounded with praises to God for camp-meetings ; and, 
in short, the whole district is eminently benefited by it. A gen- 
eral spring is given to the cause of our blessed Saviour, in every 
circuit and station in the scope of my travels. Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men ! " 
There was unquestionably some extravagance mixed with these 
remarkable scenes ; but the results of our early camp-meet- 
ings were generally very salutary, and many burning and 
shining lights in the church caught their first illumination 
amidst such excitements. 

Ebenezer Washburn labored this year in Connecticut. He 
says : " At the Conference for 1804, I was appointed to Middle- 
town circuit, Conn., to labor with Nathan Emery ; and a 
sweeter, more loving companion in labor, has seldom fallen to 
the lot of any preacher to enjoy. He was pious, laborious, 
a good preacher, and a lover of Wesleyan Methodism in all its 
parts. The circuit was at that time on the New London dis- 
trict. The Rev. Daniel Ostrander was Presiding Elder. I 
moved my family into Ponsett society, in the town of Haddam. 
The circuit was large, and contained more appointments than 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 277 

an average of one a day for the four weeks. Our Sabbath 
appointments were at Middletown, New Haven, Ponsett, and 
Columbia, now called Prospect. The only meeting-houses 
on the circuit were one at Ponsett and one at Columbia, — 
both of them in an unfinished state ; and in New Haven the 
Methodists had bought a little old Sandemanian meeting-house, 
scarcely decent or convenient to meet in. Here our brethren 
met a number of years, and endured the rage of persecution. 
Their meetings were not disturbed by any violent outrage in the 
day-time ; but it was hardly safe for them to hold an evening 
service. In Middletown, also, the little society met with great 
opposition. The spring before I went on to that circuit, they 
were holding a prayer-meeting in a school-house, when the rab- 
ble, after ringing bells, sounding tin horns, and pelting the 
house with stones, drew up a small cannon, and loaded it, with 
the design of discharging it in at the school-house door. Judge 
Hosmer was informed of what was going on, and repaired imme- 
diately to the spot ; and by reading the law, and promising to 
put it into execution, scarcely prevailed on them to disperse. 
But these things by no means damped the zeal of the little band; 
it might be said of them, as of the people of God in Egypt, that 
'the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and 
grew.' I found in Middletown an interesting society, much 
engaged in religion. I have seldom found a more promising 
company of young people in any society. Brother Emery and 
I labored in great harmony of spirit, and met with but little 
opposition : and though we had no general revival, we had some 
fruits of our labor in different parts of the circuit." 

The aggregate returns of the New England Conference were 
8540 ; the increase of the year was 716. If we add to these the 
returns of New England circuits which belonged to the New 
York Conference, the aggregate membership in the Eastern 
States amounted to 10,852. Any estimates founded upon the 
returns of these circuits must unavoidably be quite inaccurate, 
as they extended often across the line, while others, bearing 
New York names, and whose returns we omit, reached far into 
New England. Our early circuits were continually undergoing 
24 



278 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

modifications of their limits, and their apparent increase or 
decrease of members often depended upon such changes. While 
the statistics of the New England Conference presented this 
year a gain of 716, such were the changes or declensions of the 
New England circuits of the New York Conference, that their 
returns, added to the former, reduce the aggregate gains to only 
153. This reduction is, however, for the reasons just men- 
tioned, more apparent than real. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1806-1806. 

New York Conference. — Asbury again in New England. — His Travels. — New England 
Conference. — Characteristic Notes. — Financial Deficits. — Sunday. — Extraordinary 
Interest. 

Asbury, accompanied by Whatcoat, arrived at Ashgrove, N. 
Y., on Tuesday, June 11th, 1805, and opened the New York 
Conference on the following day. He affords us the only inform- 
ation we have, respecting the business of the session. He 
says : " On Tuesday, the 18th, the Conference rose at noon. 
We had blessed harmony and order; and I never heard less 
murmuring about the stations, of which there were sixty-two 
upon the list, and two having no appointments because of debil- 
ity. The committee of business, and the committee of addresses, 
were very attentive to the affairs brought before them, and their 
labors were highly approved. By allowing the usual provision 
for the married preachers and their wives (no supplies given for 
the children), the Conference was insolvent seventeen hundred 
dollars. There was about eight hundred dollars in money, and 
other things, given to, and given away by, the Conference. 
We had a Sacrament and Love Feast on the Sabbath, and I 
preached : the duty was performed by others, at other times, as 
usual ; but there were no special marks of good done." 

The next day after the adjournment, he commenced his route 
eastward, to attend the New England Conference at Lynn. On 
Tuesday, 25th, he was at Ellington, Ct. "I preached," he 
\vrites, " in the school-house, to a few men, women and children. 
I went home with Mr. Ostrander at the Square Ponds. I believe 
Methodism is as low here as true religion : yet there is hope 
that God will visit New England, as well as every part of the 



280 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

continent, before long. At the Square Ponds meeting-house, I 
preached upon Rom. 8: 1, 2. It was an open season, — the 
best time I have had in New England ; several felt. I hope 
it is a prelude to a revival here. I am resting, writing, and 
reading." 

He rested three days, — an unusual delay, — but resumed his 
work on Saturday, the 29th, at a Quarterly Meeting at Tolland. 
" My subject,'- he says, " was Jude 20 : 21 ; it was a gracious 
time. On the Sabbath we had Love Feast and Sacrament. 1 
ordained Nathan Fox, and John Norris, and James Hyde, Dea- 
cons : these are some of the first fruits. Tolland revives ; we 
had some living testimonies, and several souls are brought into 
the church. At ten o'clock we went into an orchard adjoining 
the chapel: I spoke on Heb. 8: 10, 11. Brother Washburn's 
text was, ' Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep 
it.' Many exhortations followed, and prayers, with power : there 
was a great cry, and the meeting held without intermission until 
night." 

On Thursday, 4th of July, he was at Needham. "I 
preached," he says, " at N. Bogle's meeting-house, on John 8 : 
30, 31. We stopped, Friday night, at Waltham. On Saturday 
we reached Boston. O, heat and dust ! I felt like Jonah without 
his gourd. Sabbath, 7th, I preached in our complete little meet- 
ing-house, well filled with hearers, from 1 Cor. 5 : 7, 8. It was 
an open time, and gracious season. In the afternoon, Joseph 
Crawford spoke upon 1 Tim. 1 : 15. The word of the Lord 
appeared to strike like sharp arrows. I feel as if Epaphras 
Kibby had been faithful in Boston. Monday, 8th, we took the 
turnpike for Lynn. I found Peter Jayne in the new house built 
for the accommodation of the stationed preacher. God is mov- 
ing amongst the people here ; they are prepared for the Con- 
ference." 

On Thursday, July 12th, the session of the New England 
Conference began in Lynn, Mass. There were present forty- 
eight members, besides Asbury, among whom were many 
whose names are yet familiar in the church : George Pickering, 
Joshua Taylor, Daniel Ostrander, John Brodhead, Daniel Webb, 



1 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1805-6. 281 

Epaphras Kibby, Joshua Soule, Elijah K. Sabin, Ebenezer 
Washburn, Elijah Hedding, Thomas Branch, Asa Kent, Philip 
Hunger, Elijah Willard, &c. Only two committees were 
appointed, — one for correspondence or addresses, the other on 
finances. 

The records of this session afford abundant evidence of the 
continued vigilance of the Conference over its members. The 
notices appended to the names which passed under review are 
remarkable for their brevity, but also for their explicit frankness. 
One candidate is pronounced " useful, firm, perhaps* obstinate, 
contentious, well-meaning." Another is said to be " useful, but 
unguarded in some expressions ; " he seems to have been some- 
what in advance of his times, for there was " some objection on 
his denial of visions and spiritual influences by dreams," though 
he "averred his firm belief of the Scriptures in these respects." 
Another is said to be " unexceptionable, useful and devout ; " 
another, " pious, unimproved, impatient of reproof, not accepta- 
ble," and is ordered to " desist from travelling." True Glidden 
is recorded to be " sick, — near to death, — happy." One is 
charged gravely for marrying indiscreetly, and " suspended one 
year from performing the functions of a deacon ; " another is 
pronounced " weak in doctrine and discipline, but as a preacher 
useful, sincere, pious." Lewis Bates is said to be " plain, good, 
useful; " Zalmon Lyon, "pious, faithful, but of small improve- 
ment." D. Young, "pious, capable, rough, improving." Elijah 
Willard, "faithful, diligent." One is said to be "acceptable, 
useful, zealous, — perhaps indiscreetly so, — sincere, ingenious ; " 
another, " pious, useful, weak." 

Asbury says : " We had a full Conference. Preaching at five, 
at eleven, and at eight o'clock. — Sitting of Conference from half- 
past eight o'clock until eleven, in the forenoon, and from two 
until six o'clock, in the afternoon ; we had great order and har- 
mony, and strict discipline withal. Sixteen Deacons and eight 
Elders were ordained." 

The financial committee reported alarming deficits. Ostran- 
der's amounted to $40. Brodhead, who was no longer single, 
came short of his allowance by $91 ; Soule, by $107 ; Wash- 
24=^ 



282 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

burn, $50; Hedding, S41; Bates, $45; Willard, $56. Divi 
dends from the " Chartered Fund " and " Book Concern," together 
with other contributions, were distributed to the claimants, but 
in sums which hardly approximated their deficits. Ostrander 
received $4; Willard, $14; Heath, $19; Brodhead, $30; 
Soule, $35. The aggregate deficiency was about $2800. The 
whole amount of contributions to supply it, $373, leaving a 
deficit of $2427 ; a formidable amount, when compared with the 
very limited "allowance " of the claimants. 

The Sabbath, as usual at our earlier Conferences, was a day 
of extraordinary interest. A vast multitude assembled from the 
surrounding regions. The public exercises were held in a grove 
belonging to Benjamin Johnson, the first Methodist of Lynn ; 
" a beautiful sequestered spot," says Asbury, " though near the 
meeting-house." The bishop preached, with much eflfect, from 
1 Thess. 2 : 6-9, a passage which most appositely described the 
Methodist ministry : — " Nor of men sought we glory, neither 
of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, 
as the Apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, 
even as a nurse cherishes her children ; so, being affectionately 
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not 
the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were 
dear unto us," &c. He has recorded a bare outline of his dis- 
course. — " 1. The system of imparting the * Gospel of God,' 
which is preaching Christ, 2. The doctrines, privileges, pre- 
cepts, and power, of this 'Gospel.' 3. Apostolical purity of 
intention, disinterestedness, tempers, manners, labors, and travels. 
The aflfection of soul 'imparted,' — manifested, — in preaching 
and prayer, and bowels of mercies and sympathies." 

A great sensation was produced by these services. " There 
were," says Asbury, "many exhortations and much prayer; many 
must have felt; some were converted: from this day forth, the 
work of God will prosper in Lynn, and its neighborhood." 

Many old Methodists of the vicinity still recall that remark- 
able day. It is said that the multitudes bowed under the force 
of the word, like the forest before the tempest. Scores were 
awakened ; many fell to the earth, overpowered by their emotions; 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1805-6. 283 

and the preachers were summoned late at night from their sleep, 
to console and counsel those who, with broken and contrite 
hearts, continued to call upon God for his pardoning grace.=^ 

On Monday, " the labors of Conference and public religious 
exercises were continued," writes the bishop. " On Tuesday 
evening Conference rose in great peace. On Wednesday I gave 
them a sermon, and immediately set out to Waltham, twenty 
miles : — wind, heat, dust ! " 

By Saturday, the 20th, he reached Wilbraham, where he tar- 
ried with Abel Bliss, Esq., and on the Sabbath preached from 2 
Tim. 4 : 5-8, referring again to the peculiar trials of the Metho- 
dist Itinerancy. He notes the outlines of his sermon. " ' Watch, 
in all things : ' as a Christian ; as a Christian minister or bishop. 
Endure afflictions of mind and body, as a Christian and a minis- 
ter; endure heat, cold, hunger, thirst, labor, persecution, tempt- 
ations. ' Do the work of an evangelist : ' spread the Gospel 
where it is not ; support it where it is. Paul knew he was going 
by martyrdom : he had ' fought a good fight of faith ; ' and by 
faith he had 'kept' justifying 'faith,' which some had made 
shipwreck of: the 'crown' of justifying, and sanctifying, and 
practical righteousness, was waiting to encircle his triumphant 
brows, — a 'crown' thrice radiant with the three degrees of 
glory. In conclusion, I said many things, and with great plain- 
ness; urging the necessity of being civilized, moralized, and 
spiritualized, by the Gospel, in the plenitude of its Divine opera- 
tion. I ordained Luman Andrus an Elder, and Urijah Clough 
to Deacon's orders. After two hours' serious labor, I retired." 

He passed on rapidly to New Eochelle, where he " lodged 
under the hospitable roof of the widow Sherwood." He had 
travelled two hundred and thirty miles in six days. " I am 
still," he writes, " bent on great designs for God, for Christ, 
for souls." Pursuing, with unslacking energies, these " great 
designs," he again passes from our view, on his route westward 
as far as Tennessee, and southward as far as Georgia. 

*See sketch of Bishop Heddinff, in Mem. of Int. of Methodism. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

Appointments. — Ecclesiastical Arrangements. — Reuben Harris. — His Travels. — Charac- 
ter. — Henry Martin. — His Labors. — Death. — Character. — Benjamin Bishop. — Lan- 
caster, N. H. — A Brand plucked from the Burning. 

The New England appointments, for the Conference year 
1805-1806, were as follows : 

Boston District. George Pickering, Presiding Elder. Bos- 
ton^ Peter Jayne, Reuben Hubbard ; Lynn, Daniel Webb ; Mar- 
llehead and Ipsvnch, David Bachelor ; Salisbury and Kingston, 
Alexander McLane ; Salem and Haivke, Alfred Metcalf ; Popliii 
and Pembroke, Nathan Fox ; Naiitucket, Truman Bishop ; Prov- 
incetown, Philip Hunger; Sandwich, Moses Currier; Rhode 
Island, Bristol, Somerset, and Norton, Joseph Snelling, Nehe- 
miah Coye, Ebenezer Easty; Providence, Epaphras Kibby; 
Needham, Clement Parker, Erastus Otis. 

Maine District. Joshua Soule, Presiding Elder. Portland, 
Joshua Taylor; Falmouth, David Stimson; Poland, Daniel 
Dudley; Scarboro\ Asa Heath; Readjield, Aaron Humphrey, 
William Goodhue, John Williamson ; Bethel, Dan Perry ; Hal- 
lowell, Thomas Perry ; Norridgeioock, Joseph Farrar ; Penobscot, 
Levi Walker ; Union River, Joseph Baker ; Bowdoinham, Allen 
H. Cobb; TJiiion, Samuel Hillman, Pliny Brett; Bristol, Daniel 
Ricker; Livermore, Samuel Thompson. 

New London District. Daniel Ostrander, Presiding Elder. 
New London, Nathan Emery, Thomas Branch ; Pomfret, Joshua 
Crowell, Thomas Ravlin; Tolland, Noble W. Thomas, Ben- 
jamin Hill ; Granville, Eben Smith ; Litchfield, Zalmon Lyon ; 
Middletown, Ebenezer Washburn, Luman Andrus ; Ashburnham, 
W. Stevens, John Tinkham. Joseph Crawford travels with 
Bishop Asbury this year. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 285 

Vermont District. Elijah R. Sabin, Presiding Elder, 
Magog, Joseph Fairbank; Danville, James Young, Luther 
Chamberlain; Barre, Elijah Hedding, Dan Young; VershirCj 
Oliver Beale ; Barnard, Thomas Skeel, David Carr ; Wethers- 
field and Woodstock, John Gove, Paul Dustin ; Athens, Elijah 
Willard, Hollis Sampson; Whittingham, Ebenezer Fairbank, 
David Goodhue. 

New Hampshire District. John Brodhead, Presiding Elder. 
Lunenburg, Asa Kent ; Landaff^ Joel Winch ; Bridgewater, 
Martin Ruter, Benjamin Bishop ; Hanover, Dyer Burge ; Grant- 
ham, Hezekiah Field, Henry Martin ; London, Caleb Dustin ; 
Tuftenboro', Lewis Bates. 

These were all appointments of the New England Conference. 
The following were included in the New York Conference, 
though situated within the Eastern States, viz. : 

Ashgrove District, under the Fresidmg Eldership of Daniel 
Brumley. Pittsfield, William Anson, Richard Flint; Ca»^- 
bridge, Elijah Chichester, N. U. Tompkins ; Brandon, Samuel 
Draper, Reuben Harris ; Vergennes, Samuel Cochran ; Fletcher ^ 
Samuel Howe, N. Gage, Dexter Bates ; Grand Isle, Phineas 
Cook. On New York district, under the Presiding Eldership of 
William Thatcher, were Redding, Peter Moriarty and Samuel 
Merwin ; South Britain, Nathan Felch. 

The ecclesiastical arrangements for the year consisted of six 
districts and part of a seventh,^ j'^/i^z/-;?^^; circuits and stations, 
and eighty-eight preachers. There had been no increase of the 
districts during the last year, but a large extension of their 
respective fields ; to the circuits there was an addition of /oi^r, 
and to the ministry seven. 

The ministerial corps of the year was eminently effective. 
The Presiding Elders, who directed its operations, — Pickering, 
Soule, Ostrander, Sabin, Brodhead, and Brumley, — were tried 
and powerful men ; and the evangelists w^hom they commanded, — 
Hedding, Kibby, Webb, Taylor, Branch, Washburn, Beale, Kent, 
Bates, and their associates, — were " mighty through God." 
Among the Itinerants who entered the eastern field for the 

*This estimate includes the Ashgrove district. 



286 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

first time the present year was Reuben Harris. He was born 
in Canterbury, Windham County, Ct., in the year 1776. In the 
autumn of 1800, he was soundly converted to God, under the 
labors of the Methodist Itinerants who proclaimed the word in 
that region. He joined their communion, was licensed as a 
local preacher in about two years afterwards, and received as a 
probationer at the Ashgrove session of the New York Confer- 
ence, in 1803. Ardent with the first love and heroism of his 
Christian and ministerial life, he offered himself immediately as 
a missionary to Canada, where he labored two years with Joseph 
Sawyer, Peter Vannest, Nathan Bangs, and other evangelical 
pioneers of that country. The present year he returned to the 
Stgites, was ordained by Asbury, and sent to Brandon circuit, 
Vt., and in 1807 to Middletown circuit, Ct. His travels con- 
tinued to be indefatigable in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ver- 
mont, and New York, down to the year 1823, when he retired 
to the supernumerary ranks. In 1829 he resumed active service, 
and continued to travel till 1834, when he was again placed 
upon the supernumerary list. In 1839 he was returned super- 
annuated, and, removing with his family to Chardon, Ohio, 
served the church as his remaining strength allowed. He was 
a decided Christian, and a staunch Methodist. " He not only 
united with the Methodist people as the people of his choice, 
but he studied and became firmly attached to the entire system 
of Methodism, in its doctrines, discipline, usages, and govern- 
ment ; from which he never swerved to the day of his death." =^ 
His brethren say of him, that, " though of a peculiar mental con- 
stitution, he was uniformly pious, a man of great patience and 
perseverance in labor ; the Bible was to him the book of books. 
He was sound in doctrine, and a useful minister of the New 
Testament. He labored long and suffered much in the cause 
of his Master ; and has gone, we trust, to receive a crown of life 
from the Lord, the righteous Judge." 

When nearly seventy years of age, he desired to meet his old 
fellow-laborers once more in their annual Conference, and started 
to spend the winter in the south for his health, and to return by 

*Min. of 1843-44. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NQTICES. 287 

New York city, where the Conference was to hold its session ; but, 
on reaching Lancaster, Ohio, he was attacked, after preaching, 
with severe sickness, and on Feb. 15th, 1844, died " in peace and 
full assurance of hope." 

Henry Martin " walked with God ; " and though he died 
young, he left a sweet memory in the spheres of his brief minis- 
terial labors. We know nothing of his early life, save that he 
was a native of New Hampshire, and joined the New England 
Conference, on probation, the present year. He was appointed, 
successively, to Grantham circuit, N. H., Poplin and Landon, 
N. H., Bradford and Hallowell, Me. His young spirit glowed 
with missionary zeal, and he left the last-mentioned appoint- 
ment, with the consent of his Presiding Elder, to form a new 
circuit between the Kennebec river and Boothbay. The 
attempt was hardly made, however, before he fell. He preached 
but one sermon after his arrival, when he was attacked with 
bilious disease, which baffled all remedies. After suffering 
severely, but with great fortitude and serene patience, he expired 
on the 6th of December, 1808, at Parker's Island, Georgetown, 
" with songs of praise upon his quivering lips." ^ 

His short career was a consecrated one. He was distinguished 
for his familiarity with the Holy Scriptures, his clear under- 
standing and sound judgment. His knowledge of the theory of 
religion was pronounced great for one so young ; yet the favorite 
subjects of his ministry were those of experimental and practical 
piety. " He appeared as out of his most delightful employment 
when he was not conversing upon the things of the kingdom of 
heaven, either for his own improvement or the advantage of 
others, or speaking to God in prayer and praise. He was 
always ready to receive instruction, and especially such as 
tended to explain the mystery of the Gospel. He was diligent, 
laborious and persevering, both in his private and public duties, 
and particularly in visiting from house to house." 

Benjamin Bishop was " a brand plucked from the burning." 
We have repeatedly alluded to the attacks of the mob on the first 
Methodist preachers who visited Lancaster, N. H. It was by the 

* Minutes of 1800. 



2BS MEiSlOKlALS OF METHODISM. 

conversion of Mr. Bishop and his wife that the way was at last 
providentially opened for the establishment of Methodism in that 
town. When Joseph Crawford heard of the expulsion of John 
Langdon and Rosebrook Crawford from the village, he went 
thither himself, took the field in defiance of the mob, and 
preached. The wife of Benjamin Bishop was awakened under 
the first sermon ; her emotions were so great as to overpower 
her physical strength. Her husband procured immediately a 
physician and nurse, and her new symptoms were medically 
treated some time. But her agitation increased. The neigh- 
bors were very much interested, as she was highly esteemed 
among them. But neither friendly sympathy nor medical skill 
availed anything, for the arrows of the Almighty had sunk deep 
into her soul. " Some days after, as she was pleading for mercy, 
the Lord set her soul at liberty, and she shouted his praise with 
the voice of triumph. Her nurse was startled, at first, but soon 
exclaimed, ' Why, Mrs. Bishop, now I know what has ailed you 
all this time ! You have been under conviction ! I never 
thought of such a thing.' The Lord healed both soul and 
body; and such were the overflowings of her grateful heart, 
she was ready to say, with one of old, ' Come and hear, all ye 
that fear the Lord, and I will tell you what he hath done for 
my soul.' This singular sickness and strange cure induced 
numbers to call and satisfy themselves, and she rejoiced to tell 
them of redeeming grace and dying love."^ In those days 
intoxicating drinks were generally used in New England. Mr. 
Bishop, who was the village blacksmith, had unhappily become 
addicted to them. The habit seemed inexorable. His wife 
exhorted and entreated him to abandon the ruinous indulgence, 
by seeking religion. He hesitated, believing that ardent spirits 
had become essential to his very existence, and that, if he pro- 
fessed religion, they would lead him only to disgrace it. "At the 
Lynn Conference, in 1800," says our authority, "Elijah R. Sabin 
was appointed to Landaff, which, at that time, was included in 
the New York Conference. He told me that he made consider- 
able inquiry before he could find any one to give him information 

* Letter of Rev. Asa Kent. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 289 

in what part of the world he should find his field of labor. 
There was no circuit ; but a small Class had been formed in 
LandafF. From this he sallied forth in search of the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel. On visiting Lancaster, he found Mr. 
Bishop serious and friendly, and his wife full of consolation and 
good hope. They hailed him as a messenger of salvation ; and 
she called together a little company of her neighbors, that she 
had been instructing and encouraging to seek the Lord as well 
as she could, and who were ready to join heart and hand with 
her. This was exceedingly refreshing to Mr. Sabin, and he felt 
something like one of old, who said, ' Being in the way, the 
Lord brought me to the house of my Master's brethren.' This 
good woman engaged Mr. S. to use his best endeavors to con- 
vince Mr. B. that, if he should obtain religion, he would gain a 
victory over his appetite. He resolved again and again; and 
after he had been several times ' slain with that same unhappy 
dart,' and yet encouraged by her kindness and prayers, he cast 
himself upon the mercy of God in Christ, and found peace to 
his soul. He felt such strength and power that he considered 
his old enemy conquered. Some weeks after, he was warned 
to a military training, and drilled all day. Before they were 
dismissed, the pails of toddy were brought round, according to 
the custom of those days. Being fatigued, and having some 
distance to walk, he thought he would take a little : he did 
so, and set off home. Poor man ! his head was giddy, his 
joints weak; but he arrived safely, with much difficulty. His 
good wife saw his condition, and was almost overwhelmed, but 
knew not what to say. He saw her agitation with deep mor- 
tification, and spoke to this effect : — ' You see how it is ; and I 
told you it would be so. I only drank a little, and could hardly 
get home.' — 'Well,' said she, 'if that is the case, then it is 
best not to take one drop.' Here she taught the doctrine of 
total abstinence as the only safety for an inebriate. He thought, 
upon that plan, he might lose his life ; but both agreed that it 
would be more acceptable in the sight of God for him even to 
die for the want of rum, than for him to drink it and be intox- 
icated. He made the solemn vow to drink no more, and, upon 
25 



290 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

their knees, she called on God to record it, and give him strength 
and firmness to keep it. After a while his appetite failed, with 
weakness and trembling. When he could work no more, he 
took to his house, and finally to his bed. A customer called to 
convince him that it was not a si7i for him to get drunk, no more 
than it was for other men to take an emetic; — his nature required 
it, and he could not live without it, as this appeared to be the 
only thing that would cleanse and give a proper tone to his 
stomach ; — his work was greatly wanted, — his duty to his 
family, and as a citizen, required it, &c. He replied, * I am 
resolved to serve God ; and I cannot, if I drink rum. I would 
rather die than live a drunkard.' — 'That is right, my dear 
husband,' said his weeping wife ; ' hold fast your resolution, and 
God will give you the victory ; ' at the same time putting some 
gruel to his white and quivering lips, — the only nourishment 
he could take. It seemed to others that the hand of death was 
upon him ; but her faith failed not. Soon there was a change 
for the better, and, by degrees, he was able to take nourishment, 
and finally went to his work, another man, — yes, a free man, — 
every feeling of soul and body detesting the very thought of 
strong drink ! For a number of years their house was a preach- 
ing place, and a home for the weary Itinerant; — yes, it was 
such a place as the preacher knows how to appreciate who is 
travelling a circuit of some two or three hundred miles. Mrs. 
B. was one of the most powerful female exhorters I ever heard. 
There was a chastened modesty in her manner, with a pleasant 
voice and affectionate address, by which she found access to the 
hearts of stubborn gainsayers." 

Thus was the strong foe defeated and the captive set free. 
Mr. Bishop became a devout Christian. After laboring for the 
church in his own neighborhood, he was, at last, called out into 
the Itinerant field. "In 1805," writes Mr. Kent, "he joined the 
New England Conference ; and, up to that time, he told me that 
the thought of strong drink was revolting, and the smell of it 
produced nausea. After travelling a while, he located, and I 
have within a few years seen a notice of his dying in the Lord. 
Thus the Lord opened a door in that place for the preaching of 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 291 

his word, and no man was able to shut it. And now, after fifty 
years, we may say, What hath the Lord wrought ? I can only 
say of my brethren there, that I am informed that it is one of 
the most pleasant stations in that section of country. Blessed 
as they are with prosperity and peace, they may gain something 
by looking back to those times which tried men's souls, and, con- 
trasting those days with the present, raise a higher note of praise 
to God for their gracious enlargement." 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 

Camp-meeting at Norton. — Lorenzo Dow. — New Hampshire. — Vermont. — Ebenezer P. 
Newhall. — Anecdotes. — New London Circuit. — Trials. — Old Quarterly Meetings. — 
Statistics. 

During the present ecclesiastical year, the third camp-meeting 
in New England was held on the estate of Mr. Newcorab, of 
Norton, Mass., where Zadoc Priest, the first Methodist preacher 
who fell at his post in the Eastern States, slept in his solitary 
grave, within the sound of the voices of his fellow-laborers. "^ 
This town was on the Boston district, and Pickering, the Elder 
of that district, was there, with eleven of his preachers, to con- 
duct the services. Several local preachers came to their help. 
Snelling says : " There were many preachers present, and among 
them was Lorenzo Dow. It being something new, a great num- 
ber of people attended. The preaching was spiritual and power- 
ful, and we had much reason to believe that much good resulted 
from the meeting." 

Dow, — still incorrigibly eccentric, presenting a strange mix- 
ture of humor and pathos, but profoundly earnest and devout, — 
after wandering over the continent, preaching by day and by 
night, came to this meeting, at the request of Pickering, who 
appreciated his intrinsic character. His incoherent Journals 
give us a glimpse of the occasion, as well as of his own heart. 
Under date of June 4th, 1805, he says : " About seven, a. m., 
I left my dear father, I know not but for the last time, and with 
my sister Mirza rode to the burying-ground, where my dear 

* For an account of this noble evangelist, see "Sketches from the Study of a Super- 
annuated Itinerant," and "Memorials of Int. of Methodism," &c. He was buried on 
the estate of Mr. Newcomb. 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 293 

mother was interred, for the first time of my seeing the grave. 
I could not mourn, but was comforted with the prospect of meet- 
ing again. I departed to Windham, and preached under the 
trees; and tarried in Coventry, Rhode Island, that night, riding 
fifty miles without food, through want of money, to Providence, 
and pawned a book by the way to get through a toll-gate. I 
held several meetings in Providence ; then rode to Norton, where 
Zadoc Priest died at old Father Newcomb's, whose wife had 
then no religion, but since professes to be converted, and is in 
the society." 

He was of some use in managing the rabble, as well as in 
preaching. Of the effect of the meeting he says : " The Lord 
was wonderfully present with his Spirit, to acknowledge the 
meeting ; for whilst Pickering was preaching, numbers fell, as if 
the powers of unbelief gave way ; the cry became so general 
that he was constrained to give over, but the work continued. 
The full result of this meeting will not be known until eternity y 

Dow afterwards accompanied Pickering to Boston, Waltham, 
and other parts of the district. At Waltham, even his rude 
spirit was charmed with the rural tranquillity, which surrounded 
the hospitable home of Bemis, and the Christian charities which 
dwelt within its domestic circle, then comprising four genera- 
tions. He preached there with effect. " I preached," he says, 
"on Saturday and Sunday, and called up those who would wish 
me to remember them, and strive to remember themselves in 
prayer, to give their hands ; and the power of God seemed to 
come over all." 

After preaching along the district northward, to Canada, he 
again left the Eastern States, on his errant course over the con- 
tinent and to England. 

Brodhead guided the labors of a devoted band of Itinerants 
this year, on the New Hampshire district. Ruter, Kent, Bishop, 
Martin and Bates, spread the truth with unswerving energy over 
their long ministerial tours, and by the end of the year increased 
their circuits from seven to ten. 

On the Vermont district, Elijah R. Sabin and his fourteen 
evangelists labored incessantly and with good success, though 
25* 



294 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

their numerical additions were not remarkable, for a great pro- 
portion of the converts of Methodism were still drawn into other 
churches. They added, however, one circuit to the district. 
During this year, Ebenezer F. Newhall, who still survives in a 
green old age, wandered, on foot among the wildernesses and 
sparsely inhabited regions of northern Vermont and beyond the 
Canada line, visiting his kindred, and preaching Christ in the 
log cabins of the settlers. He was young, and not yet in the 
regular ministry; but the Divine call sounded in his soul, and in 
deep anxiety and loneliness he traversed the forests, "exhorting" 
in every house which he met on his route. His word was ren- 
dered a blessing to many, and some of his meetings in those 
then remote wilds will be remembered in heaven. He records 
striking evidences of the moral destitution of the country. " I 
called at many of the houses, and was much affected to see the 
destitution of the new settlers in those vast forests. From where 
I left the shore of Lake Champlain, I travelled, on foot and alone, 
through woods and across a wide ledge of rocks of two hours' 
travel, by marked trees that were difficult to find ; and, if once 
lost, I might wander in the desert, with little hope of finding my 
way again. To secure myself, I resolved not to lose sight of one 
mark ahead and one in the rear, so that, if I could not go for- 
ward, I might find my way back. From this I learned a good 
lesson, viz., not to move toward Eternity without a clear evi- 
dence of being in the path that leads to Life! Often I rested 
my weary limbs by sitting down and reading my Bible, and 
kneeling in prayer. Soon I came to a small opening, — found a 
log hut, — stopped, — talked, read, sung and prayed with them; 
and then inquired if there was a house two or three miles ahead, 
where I could stop over night and hold a meeting, and was 
informed that there probably was. So on I went, calling on 
every family and praying with them ; — all seemed glad to see me, 
and promised to follow on to the meeting. As I came to the 
third opening, I called at the first log hut, and found it inhabited 
by a very poor woman. I invited her to go to the meeting. 
She said, * I have no clothes but these that I have on, and they 
are not suitable for such a place.' — I replied, ' Don't stop for 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 295 

that ; just wash you clean, and go : God may meet you there, 
and wash away all your sins, and clothe you with salvation.' — 
' But I have no shoes,' she continued. — ' No matter ; God may 
put on your feet the Gospel shoes.' — ' Then I have no bonnet.' 

— 'Well, God can put on your head a crown of life.' — 'Neither 
have I any cloak. — ' Dear woman,' said I, ' make no more 
excuses ; throw a sheet over your shoulders, and if you find 
Jesus, as you may, you will not be sorry you went, even if you 
should go barefoot and ragged, since it is the best your poverty 
allows.' I then passed on to the next house ; with cheerful 
looks they welcomed me to the hospitalities of their house, — 
sent notice of the meeting the other way, and thanked me for 
inviting the people as I came along. They soon assembled from 
several miles around, and the poor woman was among them, with 
rags sewed on her feet, a sheet doubled and flung over her head, 
and her children by her side. How easy it was to talk to a people 
hungry for the bread of life ! My soul was happy, and praised 
God. In the morning I passed on through the woods, feeling 
that God was my support and comfort. I tarried a few weeks, 

— held some meetings. The Lord moved upon the hearts of 
the jDeople, and many were brought to rejoice in God." 

A venerable layman, from whom we have already quoted, and 
who retains the spirit as well as the memory of those early 
times,"^ furnishes us the following illustrations of the character 
of Methodism, as it then existed on the New London circuit: 
" This circuit was laid out on the old plan of cutting out as 
much work as could be done by two warm-hearted Itinerant 
preachers, giving them a route of two hundred and fifty miles' 
travel, with about twenty appointments and thirty-two sermons 
per month. One of the preachers told me that he and his col- 
league preached thirty-two sermons each in four weeks. There 
were four Sabbath appointments on the circuit, — New London, 
Middle Haddam, Norwich, and Windham or Canterbury. The 
smaller societies had no Sabbath preaching; but they could attend 
meeting on working days, without murmuring, and thought they 
were highly privileged. But our good Shepherd saw the wants 
of his little flock, and raised them up local preachers, viz., Daniel 

* Mr. J. Stocking, of Glastenbury, Ct. 



296 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Burrows, Peter Griffin, Brs. Battey, Fillmore, Lathrop, and 
myself, — two shoemakers, two farmers, one saddler, one judge 
of probate, and a few others. This little band of laborers 
supplied the large societies with preaching once in two weeks, 
and preached to the small societies on the Sabbath ; attended 
funerals, and visited the sick, in the absence of the travelling 
preacher. Some of them were ordained deacons in due time, 
and aided the preachers on the circuit in their labors of love, and 
great prosperity of the church was the result. The small socie- 
ties became large, and the large ones larger, and in one year 
three hundred souls were added to the church. In those days 
the work of God went forward, and preachers were full of faith 
and the Holy Ghost; and the members of the church walking by 
the same rule, and minding the same thing, the progress of 
Methodism in Connecticut alarmed the sectarian, the infidel, 
and the immoral, and all means were used to stop its progress. 
School-houses were shut against us, our catechism was rejected, 
so that our children must either learn to say God fore-ordains 
whatsoever comes to pass, or stand by while their school-mates 
were drilled into Calvinism. But we had a remedy at hand, for 
we catechized our children at home. Sometimes Calvinists 
would attend our meetings, and when opportunity offered would 
rise and undertake to point out our errors, and would address 
their ideas to the congregation, with much apparent concern for 
the people. In such cases, if I was leading the meeting, I 
always used a scourge of small cords, which drove them out of 
the temple ; and the same person seldom repeated his attack in 
the same way. The local preachers had to suffer their full 
share of persecution ; but none of these things moved us. In 
those days there was much practical Methodism. The members 
were at the Class-room at the hour appointed ; our families had 
their altars erected, where, morning and evening, prayer and 
praise were offered up through our great High Priest. The 
public meeting was well attended by our members, dressed in 
plain attire, and full of faith, looking for a blessing from God 
upon the word preached. Surely it was easy preaching to such 
nearers. The preacher, at the close of the services, announces a 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 297 

Quarterly Meeting at such a time and place, and tells his breth- 
ren to be there, if possible ; for sinners must be converted, and 
believers sanctified, and no doubt but we shall be much blessed 
of God. Be there on Saturday, by all means, if you want a 
good meeting. On the day appointed, many started for Quar- 
terly Meeting, — some on horseback, some in wagons, some in 
carts, and others on foot, singing as they went. On their arrival, 
they are made welcome by the brethren and sisters, by a hearty 
shake of the hand, and, ' Is it well with thy soul ? ' The Satur- 
day's exercise prepares for the Sabbath ; shouts of victory are 
heard in the Love Feast, and the day passes away with much 
dehght, and spiritual benefit. All have good tidings to carry 
home to those who could not attend. The inquiry is made, 
• Did you have a good meeting? ' — The answer is, ' Yes, glory 
to God ! sinners were converted, and a number of believers 
experienced perfect love : and the next Quarterly Meeting will 
be held in Bro. H.'s barn.' — ' That is good news ; we must live 
to God, and be ready for the time.' In the midst of those days 
of prosperity, we built a chapel in East Glastenbury, and another 
in Hebron, and one in Norwich, which was carried away by a 
flood, but was soon replaced by another." The style, as well 
as the facts, of this communication, indicate vividly the spirit of 
the times. 

The aggregate returns, for the year, of the New England Con- 
ference, were 9211 ; its gains were 671. If we include the 
returns from New England circuits to the New York Confer- 
ence, the aggregate amounts to 11,744, and the whole increase 
of the year to about 900. There were, at this time, but 66 col- 
ored IMethodists in the Eastern States ; their number had 
diminished. 

It was a year of general prosperity to the denomination. Lee 
says: " The work of the Lord greatly prospered in most parts of 
our connection. The Methodists have increased more, of late 
years, in the United States, than formerly. We have more 
preachers, more circuits, more members, and (I may say) more 
religion, than we ever had at any one time before." ^ The 
reported increase of the entire church was more than 10,000. 

♦ Short History, &c. 



CHAPTEE XXYII. 

EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 

The First Methodist Church in Maine. — Lee at Monmouth. — Gillman Moody. — Daniel 
Smith. — The Second Chapel in Maine. — Yienna. — Its First Class. — Revivals. — Chap- 
els. — Preachers. — Methodism in Portland. — Lee's "Visits. — Major Ilsley. — Theophilus 
Boynton. — First Class. — Adversities. — Prosperity. — Bath. — Early Class. — Timothy 
Merritt. — Progress. — Methodism on the Penobscot. — On the Kennebec. 

The first Methodist Class in Maine was formed at Monmouth, 
" about the first of November, 1794."=^ Lee had formed a cir- 
cuit in the Province the preceding year, but it is not known that 
a single Methodist lived within its limits. Philip Wager was 
sent to travel the new circuit, and seems to have been success- 
ful, as Lee, on revisiting Maine in 1794, found much reli- 
gious interest in several towns. He says : " 12th November, 
I rode to Esquire Dearborn's, in Monmouth, and stayed all night ; 
was greatly delighted in hearing of many precious souls that 
had been awakened, and several that had been converted, in 
the town, within a short time past. Surely, the Lord is saying 
to the north, Give up. Amen, even so : come, Lord Jesus ! " 

Wager met him here the next day. " I was," writes Lee, 
" greatly pleased with the account he gave me of the prospect 
of a work of God in several places on his circuit. At two 
o'clock I preached at Captain Hopkins' tavern, and the Lord 
moved upon the hearts of many of the people. Brother Wager 
exhorted with freedom. I met the Class, and was happy to hear 
from the people's own mouth what the Lord had done for their 
souls. There were about fifteen in Class, and most of them 
profess to be happy in God. This Class has been formed but a 
few weeks, and is the first ever formed in the Province of 
Maine. May they be as the little cloud, which at first was like 
a man's hand, but soon covered the heavens." 

Gillman Moody and Daniel Smith (since well known as use' 

* Lee's Short History. Anno 1794. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 299 

ful local preachers), with a few others, who formed this Class, 
have the honor of being the first Methodists in Maine. Mr. 
Moody had been converted in Brentwood, N. H., in 1776 ; but, 
being a decided Arminian, he found little sympathy from his 
Calvinistic brethren. He removed to Monmouth in 1762. 
When he first heard Jesse Lee, he exclaimed, as he went home, 
" I am satisfied he has preached the truth of the Bible ; and if 
he is a Methodist, I arn one." He and his wife were hence- 
forth steadfast in their adherence to the infant cause of Method- 
ism. Mr. Smith died in Strong, Me., Oct. 10th, 1845, aged 
seventy-eight years. A correspondent, who knew him well, 
says : ^ " Our venerable ' Father ' Smith, with seven others, 
constituted the first Class of Methodists ever formed in this 
state. They have all preceded him, and now, in a good old 
age, he is called to his reward in the company not only of his 
early associates, but with the ' general assembly and church of 
the first-born.' Mr. Smith was the father of ten children ; one 
is in heaven, nine on the way, and all, with one exception, are 
members of the church their father loved and honored. Two of 
them are local Elders in the Methodist Episcopal church. Thus, 
it is seen, he commanded his children after him in the ways of 
the Lord ; especially was he strict to command the observance 
of the Holy Sabbath. Mr. Smith was useful as a local preacher 
for many years, and his ministry was not without its seals. 
Thirty-eight years ago, he was ordained Deacon by the sainted 
Asbury, and continued his labors as long as he was able. His 
children remembered him with fondest affection, and thank him, 
in his grave, for that discipline which, in their waywardness, 
they sometimes thought too severe. He was a man of firmness 
and decision ; and plainly did he show, in his long Christian 
pilgrimage, that he had counted the cost when he set out. 
Twenty-nine years he bowed around the family altar alone; but 
his prayers were answered, and his children were given him." 
Several other members of this first Class lived to an ad- 
vanced age, and proved through their lives the genuineness of 
their Christian experience. 

*Rev. D. F. Quimby. 



300 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

In about two months after its organization, Lee again visited 
Monmouth ; he came in the power of the Highest. The old 
members of the church often in after j^ears referred to the mar- 
vellous effect of his discourse. He speaks of it himself as fol- 
lows : " At Captain Hopkins', in Monmouth, being Christmas 
day, I preached on Isa. 9 : 6. We had a remarkably large con- 
gregation, and a very remarkable season. The people seemed 
to swallow every word. Toward the end of the meeting, the 
power of God was mightily displayed ; there were but few dry 
eyes in the house. I wept over my congregation, and had to 
stop for a season. I begged the poor sinners to be reconciled to 
God, till I was persuaded that some of them would obey the 
truth. P. Wager exhorted, with a good deal of life. We then 
administered the Lord's Supper to several persons. This is the 
first time the Methodists ever communed in this town. Then I 
gave the friends some advice about building a meeting-house in 
this place." 

About the close of the year 1795, the society at Monmouth 
erected the second Methodist chapel in Maine, the first having 
been built at Readfield the same year. It was dedicated the 
last day of May, 1796. In 1838 it was thoroughly repaired, 
and continued, as from the beginning, to have none but free 
seats. On Dec. 16th, 1843, it was destroyed by fire ; but was 
rebuilt, and now stands the monument of the first Methodist 
society in Maine. The germ planted by Lee and Wager has 
endured, through all adversity, down to our day, and the Mon- 
mouth society reported in 1850 about one hundred and fifty 
members. 

Of the church in Vienna a correspondent has furnished us 
the following sketch : " Jedediah Whittier, James Cochran, 
and John Thompson, constituted the first Class, in 1794. They 
were soon joined by Elisha Johnson and wdfe, Thomas Whit- 
tier and wife, Ruth Cochran, and Euth Whittier. During the 
two years following, they regularly met on the Sabbath for read- 
ing Wesley's sermons and prayer, which resulted, at length, in 
some additions. About this time Daniel Morrell (who was for 
twenty-five years a useful Class-leader) and his wife joined the 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 301 

praying band. With occasional additions, they struggled on, 
through evil report and good report, until they were strength- 
ened in numbers by a revival in 1801, which commenced at a 
Quarterly Meeting held in the unfinished house of Jedediah 
Whittier; Joshua Taylor, Presiding Elder, Oliver Beale, and 
other preachers, were present. When this meeting w^as appoint- 
ed, Moses Springer, of Gardiner, father of Rev. M. Springer, re- 
solved on attending, then unacquainted with the Methodists, 
except by report. He had been, for some time, deeply concerned for 
his soul ; and not regarding the distance, or badness of the roads, 
he proceeded on horse-back to the place. During the meeting the 
presence of God was manifest, and the little band were especially 
refreshed in commemorating the Saviour's sufferings and death. 
They arose from their knees, and all were about to depart, when 
Mr. Springer arose and said that he could not leave the place until 
he had told what God had done for his soul. V\^hile relating 
his experience, others were smitten with conviction, and subse- 
quently were made to rejoice in deliverance from sin. In 1804 
Joseph Baker was the pastor of the flock in Vienna. On the 
last day of this year, Jedediah Whittier and wife, and a pious 
female, having been of the opinion, for some time, that five 
young persons w^ere convinced of sin, invited these five persons 
to spend the evening at Mr. W.'s house. While the faithless 
professor, like the heath in the desert, knows not when good 
Cometh, these watchful souls, from the heights of Zion, saw 
these weary and heavy-laden ones ; not a word had been uttered, 
but to their keener vision it was evident they were not far from 
the kingdom of God. The evening was spent in conversation and 
singing, until preparations were making to leave. No admission 
of religious feelings had been drawn from them, and great 
anxiety filled the minds of those who were seeking their souls 
for the Lord ; but their sorrow was turned to joy by these 
words, uttered by one of the number, named Samuel Ireland: 
' I cannot leave this house until I feel differently in my mind.' 
At the same time he fell upon his knees, and began to cry for 
mercy. The rest did the same, and before morning the five 
were full of joy in the God of their salvation. From this begin- 
26 



302 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ning a glorious revival resulted. In 1811 a secession took 
place. Under the labors of Rev. B. Jones, in 1812, a great 
revival occurred. From this time, frequent revivals of less 
note were enjoyed, and almost every individual who removed to 
Vienna, or remained any length of time in the place, became 
converted, insomuch that the wicked would often remark that 
'one must drive swiftly through V., or the Methodists would 
have him.' From a divided and lethargic state, they were 
revived ; and enjoyed a great refreshing from the presence of 
God, in 1840, under the labors of Rev. R. C. Bailey, when about 
forty were added to the church. The blessed work extended 
to other towns. The first house of worship built by the society 
was erected in 1802, when there were but seven male members. 
The second edifice, a neat and commodious house, was dedicated 
in 1841. The ranks of the travelling ministry have received 
several efficient men from this circuit; viz., D. Dudley, True 
Glidden, Henry True, John W. Dow, George Pratt, and Charles 
W. Morse.^ To the local ministry Vienna circuit has given J. 
Whittier, J. Merrill, J. Bradly, Jonathan Bradly, J. Cochran, J. 
Thompson, and A. C. Hodgkins."t 

Lee visited Portland in September, 1793. He took lodgings 
at a hotel. On its being rumored about the city that a Method- 
ist preacher had arrived, Mr. Daniel Ilsley, a Protestant Episco- 
palian, and a gentleman of much respectability, called on him, 
and invited him to his house. Mr. (or, as he was usually called, 
Major) Ilsley was then an attendant at Mr, Kellogg's Congrega- 
tional church, there being no pastor over the Episcopal church. 
He took a lively interest in obtaining a place for Lee's meet- 
ings, and having called on the parish committee, he obtained 
permission for him to lecture in Mr. Kellogg's meeting-house the 
same evening. Lee preached there again the next afternoon. 
Mr. Kellogg, having heard him, was so well pleased, that, 
being about to be absent several Sabbaths, he engaged Mr. Lee 
to supply his desk, which he accordingly did. On his return, 
some misunderstanding occurred; but it was subsequently 

* Those only are mentioned who have been licensed there, 
t Letter from Rev. F. A. Crafts. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 303 

repaired, and Mr. Kellogg became friendly to the Methodist 
society, and having retired from his pastoral relation, was for 
some time before his death a regular attendant at the Methodist 
church. 

Mr. Lee, having been ejected from Mr. Kellogg's pulpit, com- 
menced preaching in Theophilus Boynton's dwelling. Several 
persons were awakened, and Mr. Boynton was among the first 
to reap the benefit of the Itinerant's labors, by being brought to 
the knowledge of the truth. Soon after, his wife experienced 
religion, and they did much throughout their lives to sustain the 
infant cause ; but they both had an early yet triumphant depart- 
ure to the land of rest. The word took root in some hearts, and 
through the occasional labors of Lee, and other Methodist 
preachers who began to visit the city, a small Class of five mem- 
bers was formed in 1794. Philip Wager had the honor of 
organizing the first society in Portland. The names of its 
members were, Theophilus Boynton, Hannah Boynton, Susan 
Thrasher, Abigail Baker and Polly Atkins. The latter is the 
only one who still survives. 

The first words spoken in the first Class-meeting, in answer 
to the usual question, were characteristic : " I know in whom I 
have believed.''^ It was well they did know, for bitter was their 
persecution ; they were accounted fanatics, and hooted at in the 
streets. So much opposition, reproach and scorn, were encoun- 
tered by them, that few had the courage to join the Class for 
a long time after it was formed. 

Soon after Lee came to Portland, preaching appointments 
were made in towns adjacent, and a circuit was formed, called 
Portland circuit. Joel Ketchem, Philip Wager, Stephen and 
Elias Hull, Joshua Hall and Enoch Mudge, travelled it in suc- 
cession ; but so unpropitious were the prospects in Portland, 
some of the Class having died and others withdrawn, that it 
was at length left out of the list of regular appointments, and the 
circuit was called by another name. At one time, the Class was 
diminished, by death and removals, to a single individual. God 
did not, however, allow it utterly to perish. James Lewis, a 
zealous and faithful local preacher, commenced visiting the city; 



304 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the travelling preachers renewed their efforts, and a school-house 
on India-street having been obtained for meetings, the prospects 
of Methodism once more revived. Several were converted, and 
a few Methodists from other places having moved into the city, 
there seemed to be a call for a special effort to provide for regu- 
lar preaching, and a more spacious and convenient place of wor- 
ship. Rev. Joshua Taylor passing through the city, on his way 
to the General Conference, in 1804, as we have heretofore 
noticed, was informed of the condition of the young society ; and 
hearing that the Protestant Episcopal chapel was for sale, deter- 
mined that an effort should be made to purchase it. But the 
church was feeble, Samuel Homer and Daniel Lewis being the 
only male members. However, with the liberal patronage of 
Major Ilsley and other friendly citizens, and collections obtained 
from New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the house was 
purchased and repaired, so that a convenient and respectable 
place of worship was secured. The same year (1804) Portland 
was made a station, and Joshua Taylor was appointed to it by 
the Conference. He remained two years. The church, as organ- 
ized by him on coming to the charge, consisted of eleven mem- 
bers. Under his administration, and through his faithful labors, 
the congregation was very much increased, and Methodism in 
Portland placed on a firm foundation. The society, though 
meeting with much opposition, continued to flourish, under the 
labors of David Bachelor and Joel Winch, who were the suc- 
cessors of Joshua Taylor. 

Joel Winch was appointed to Portland in 1807, and remained 
two years ; during which time, the chapel now standing in 
Chesnut-street was erected. From the annual returns of mem- 
bers, it appears that there was but a very small advance from 
1808 to 1818, when there was quite a secession — about fifty 
withdrew. Charles Virgin was the stationed preacher. Those 
were perilous times for the society. Some of the seceders 
returned, but it is said that many fell away, and made shipwreck 
of faith. In 1828, the church, with a membership of 313, built 
a spacious and substantial brick house on Pleasant-street, in the 
upper part of the city, and in 1829 twf) preachers were appointed 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 



to Portland. For several years great prosperity was enjoyed 
by the two societies, so that, at the close of the Conference year 
in 1835, they comprised nearly 700 church-members. But, 
strange to say, with this very large number, the trustees of 
the Pleasant (now called Park) street church, burdened with a 
debt of some $4000, sunk under discouragement, and, by a hasty 
transaction, conveyed the house to the Unitarians, who have 
since occupied it. This was a heavy calamity, which will be 
felt for many years to come. The pew-holders received but 
fifty or sixty per cent, on the cost of their pews ; many were dis- 
affected, and the church and congregation were scattered to the 
four winds. Some came to the Chestnut-street church; but the 
house was inadequate to accommodate but few more than already 
attended there. Some retained their pews, and are now mem- 
bers of the Unitarian congregation; others scattered to the dif- 
ferent churches, so that, in the returns of numbers the next year, 
a great decrease appears. In 1836 and 1837 the Chestnut-street 
chapel underwent thorough repairs, and was much enlarged, at 
an expense of about $6000. In a few years, such were the addi- 
tions to the church and congregation, that the house became 
insufficient, and another attempt was made to establish a con- 
gregation at the upper part of the city. In 1844, a spacious hall 
or school-room was obtained, on Bracket-street, and H. M. 
Blake was appointed to the charge, which was called the city 
mission. A congregation was soon collected, a flourishing Sab- 
i)ath-school established, and about sixty members of the Chestnut- 
street church connected themselves with the new society. Souls 
were converted ; the church and congregation both increased, so 
that the beginning was marked by many favorable auspices. 
The place soon became too strait, and it was thought expedient 
to make an attempt to build a chapel. An elevated site was 
purchased, and in 1846 a beautiful edifice was completed, and 
dedicated to Almighty God."^ Methodism has since flourished 
in Portland, and now comprises there more than 700 members. 
The early history of Methodism in Bath, as in most other 
cases where no records are preserved, is very obscure. Jesse 

* Rev. E. Shaw to the author. 

26^ 



306 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Lee, while on his tour in Maine in 1794, visited the town, and 
preached there. It does not appear that it was again visited by 
a Methodist preacher till 1796, in which year Philip Wager and 
Jesse Stoneman preached there occasionally. Mr. Stoneman 
afterwards tarried there a few weeks. In 1798, Rev. J. Brod- 
head preached in Bath several times ; his labors were crowned 
with success ; a reformation followed, the fruits of which were 
collected in a Class — the first formed in the town. 

Subsequently, the Rev. Timothy Merritt took charge of the 
young society, and remained some time ; after which, he removed 
to Bowdoinham, but continued to preach at Bath occasionally 
till about 1809. Mr. Merritt was poor, and obliged to work hard 
to support his family. At the end of his week's toil, he was 
accustomed to take his boat, and row across the bay and down 
the river to Bath, a distance of eight miles, and then walk two 
miles from the landing to the " old meeting-house," where he 
used to preach, and return home in the same way, so as to be 
ready to commence his labor on Monday morning. He was 
esteemed a good preacher even in this early period of his minis- 
try, and his memory is cherished with much affection in Bath. 

The small church, being without a pastor, and having only 
occasional preaching after Mr. Merritt removed, declined, and at 
last became extinct. 

In 1807 Gen. McLellan moved from Monmouth to Bath. His 
wife had been for several years a member of the M. E. church. 
In a few years, Mr. Blake, who, with his wife, v/as a member of 
the church, also came from Monmouth. Mr. Berry, Mrs. 
McLellan, and Mrs. Blake, voluntarily united in a Class, and met 
weekly in a small building on Gen. McLellan's estate. Mr. 
Berry acted as leader. As they had no preaching, their number 
continued for a long time without increase. 

About 1816 an exhorter in the M, E. church, whose name was 
Scribner, an utter stranger, arrived in Bath from Vermont; and, 
though neglected at his introduction by the church with which 
the few Methodists were wont to worship, so soon as his gifts 
and piety became known, he was taken cordially by the hand, 
and his assistance readily accepted. From his labors, directed 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 307 

evidently by the spirit of God, a very extensive and at that time 
unparalleled revival ensued, in which about two hundred pro- 
fessed faith in Christ. This fruit, however, was gathered into 
the churches of other denominations, and the poor but useful 
exhorter was at last hurried away by those who before were glad 
of his services. 

In September, 1817, Kev. John Wilkinson, who had been some 
years in the travelling connection, but whose health had failed, 
so that he could no longer preach, located in the town. After 
recovering somewhat his health, he preached occasionally, as his 
strength would permit, till some time in the ensuing winter, when 
Mr. Ambler, a local preacher, was sent on by the Presiding Elder, 
and remained till the ensuing annual Conference. At this Con- 
ference (1818) Rev. Wm. Marsh was appointed to Bath, but for 
some cause he did not go ; and Mr. Chamberline, a member of 
the Conference, was despatched to the appointment, from another 
circuit, by the Presiding Elder. His health was poor, and he 
could perform no other service than to preach on the Sabbath. 
He remained but a few weeks, when the charge again devolved on 
Mr. Wilkinson, who continued in the pastoral care of the church 
and congregation till the next Conference, and received several 
valuable members into the society. Mr. Wilkinson is a native 
of Ireland, where he received a respectable education. In early 
life he was converted, and joined the Wesleyans. He was per- 
sonally acquainted with Ouseley, and other apostles of Metho- 
dism in that country, and was a staunch Methodist, an ardent 
admirer of Wesley, and a man of deep and uniform piety. He, 
with his wife, contributed much to the prosperity of Methodism 
in Bath, by their counsels and encouragement, and their personal 
sacrifices. 

The Rev. Charles Virgin was appointed to Bath in 1819. 
Hitherto the preaching had been mostly in the old meeting- 
house belonging to the town, and situated almost a mile from the 
village ; but in 1818 a chapel was projected. It was dedicated 
during the year 1819, and is now occupied, having been con- 
siderably enlarged and improved. To build this house, a debt 
was contracted, by which the society was embarrassed for several 



308 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

years. The number in the Classes at this time cannot be exactly- 
ascertained. So far as can be learned, Mr. Virgin left in the 
society fifty-three members. In 1822 the church, though still 
feeble, entertained the New England Conference, Bishop Rob- 
erts presiding. 

In 1828 the whole number of members was only ninety-one. 
During the year 1829 there was a gracious revival. In 1834 
and 1835, there was a general reformation in the town, in w^iich 
the several denominations shared. 

The history of Methodism in Bath, as in almost all cases, has 
been marked by struggles and discouragements. Wealth and 
prejudice arrayed themselves against it. But better auspices 
have attended it in later years. Extensive revivals have pre- 
vailed under its labors ; it has had the pastoral care of many 
of the most effective men of our ministry in Maine, and is now 
a flourishing " station," with more than two hundred members. 

There are other primitive Methodist churches in Maine, whose 
local history would throw much light and interest upon our 
annals ; but we have failed to obtain authentic accounts of them, 
and, indeed, time has nearly obliterated the necessary data. Most 
of the few reminiscences of them which still remain we have 
woven into other parts of our narrative. A veteran ^ of our min- 
istry in that state has furnished us the following additional 
items : " Methodism commenced nearly simultaneously in Port- 
land, Kennebec, and Penobscot, about the year 1794. This 
year Jesse Lee made an excursion through the length and 
breadth of Maine, where there was anything like roads or 
inhabitants. The next year he made a similar excursion, and 
began to lay his plans for all that has subsequently followed. 
On this visit, he spent considerable time on the Penobscot. He 
found two church-members only in all this region, viz., Abner 
Curtis and wife, of Bucksport, who came from the British prov- 
inces. The people, however, requested to be supplied by a regu- 
lar Methodist Itinerant. Consequently, on the return of Mr. 
Lee to the New London Conference, which sat in July, 1795, 
he procured the appointment of Rev. Joshua Hall. His circuit 

*Rev.J. Atwell. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN MAINE. 309' 

* 

extended from Union to Orono, then the upper white settlement 
on the river. Mr. Hall's long circuit embraced in its member- 
ship the two persons above named, and no more. This exten- 
sive country he travelled, without roads, bridges, or ferries, until 
the following June, when he was removed to Readfield. Dur- 
ing this period there was a considerable revival on his circuit, and 
shortly before he left he received forty into the society at one 
time. This was the origin and commencement of Methodism 
on the Penobscot. The meeting at which he received them was 
held in a barn in Hampden, in May or June, 1796. When I 
was first stationed on the Penobscot, in 1812 and 1813, there 
were three circuits in this section of the Province of Maine. 
Penobscot, which extended from Orland to "down east," and 
embraced the whole of the Baggadoose country, then so called. 
Orrington, which was my circuit, extended from Orland to 
Hemlock stream, now Argile, which was nearly the upper 
settlement on the river. The names of Curtis, Kenny, and 
Hinks, in Bucksport, of Fowler and Nickerson, in Orrington, 
and of Marsh, Jameson, and Colburn, in Orono, will long fill a 
prominent place in the history of Methodism in this region. 
Hampden circuit lay on the west side of the river, and extended 
indefinitely over a large tract of country. Suffice it to say that 
Methodism has held a controlling influence in nearly every town 
on the river, to this day. Bangor alone, I believe, is an exception. 
Methodism has advanced, with an increased momentum, from 
the beginning, each year giving a more favorable result than the 
former. This thought refers particularly to our early history. 
Our societies, however, were feeble, and found it difficult to 
compete with opposing influences, until the general revivals 
which commenced among us about the year 1814 or 1815. Until 
about this time there was but little Methodist influence on the 
Kennebec river, from the mouth to its source. When I was sta- 
tioned on Hallowell circuit, in 1814, there was very little Metho- 
dist labor, except what was included in Hallowell circuit, from 
Bath to Norridgewock. My regular work was from Gardiner 
to Skowhegan. I found one small Class in Hallowell, one in 
Augusta village, and one in the upper part of Augusta; and one 



310 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

brother the leader of the three. There was a small Class in 
Gardiner. An old brother once said to me that the greatest 
cross he had to bear was to notify his neighbors of a Methodist 
meeting — such was the opposition. In Bath and Wiscasset the 
state of things was little, if any, better. But here our history 
changes its aspect. A great and glorious revival commenced in 
Gardiner in the summer of 1814, which spread up and down the 
river, and much of which is still in existence ; and Ave confidently 
expect that it will continue to exert a healthful influence, to the 
end of the world. In Gardiner and vicinity, I received about one 
hundred into society, in a few months. The work spread more 
gradually in Hallowell and Augusta, but great strength was added 
to the societies there at that time. Hallowell has long been an 
independent and important station. Augusta has been a hard 
spot to cultivate, but within a few years it has gained much 
strength and influence. Bath and Wiscasset are now independ- 
ent stations, of very considerable importance. There are few 
places of any considerable importance in Maine that do not now 
enjoy and support a stated ministry of our order. To God be 
all the glory ; and may we take new courage, and press on in the 
heavenly work, believing that this work and this counsel is of 
the Lord, and that it can never be overthrown !" 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1806-7. 

Asbury. — The New York Conference. — New England Conference. — Examination of 
Character. — Other Proceedings. — Asbury Itinerating. 

In the early part of May, 1806, Asbury arrived in New York 
city, on his northern and eastern route. On the 3d he visited 
Staten Island. " I viewed," he says, " the spot where I first landed 
on the island, in October, 1771 : I am alive, and about my Mas- 
ter's work still ; " and he adds, with deep emotion, exclamations 
of praise to God. 

On Tuesday, 16th, the New York Conference commenced its 
session in the city of New York. Asbury says : " We sat seven 
hours in each day, in great love, order, and peace. A paper 
was read, setting forth the uncertain state of the superintendency, 
and proposing the election of seven Elders, from each of the 
seven Conferences, to meet at Baltimore, July, 4, 1807, for the 
sole purpose of establishing the American superintendency on a 
surer foundation ; this subject will be submitted to the considera- 
tion of all the Conferences. The answer to Dr. Coke's letter, 
by the Conference of New York, was read, to be submitted to 
all the Conferences. I preached three times, and ordained three 
African Deacons. We had preaching in the Park, as well as 
regularly in the meeting-houses, and a day of fasting and prayer 
for the health of the city, the success of our Conference labors, and 
the prosperity of Zion. I was greatly supported and blest. The 
preachers were, perhaps, never better satisfied with their stations." 

The session closed on Thursday, 22nd inst. On the follow- 
ing Sunday, Asbury was preaching in New Haven. He wrote 
in his Journal, that day, " Since the 16th of April, 1805, I have, 
according to my reckoning, travelled five thousand miles : ever- 
lasting glory be to my all-sufficient God ! " 



312 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

On the next Friday, after a day's journey of forty-five miles, 
he reached Thompson, ^^ faint, yet 'pursuing^'' he writes. On 
Thursday he arrived among his endeared friends at Waltham, 
where he tarried the next day, and preached in the evening. 
On Saturday he reached Boston, where he spent the Sabbath. 
" I preached," he writes, " in Boston ; as usual with me in this 
place, it was an open season ; some souls were powerfully moved, 
— myself, for one. Monday, 2, 1 took a walk to West Boston, to 
see the new chapel [Bromfield-st.], eighty-four by sixty-four feet. 
The upper window-frames were put in. We came to Lynn at 
two o'clock : I preached at two o'clock, on Haggai 2 : 8. After 
meeting we rode as far as Marblehead ; here Joseph Crawford 
preached. I find that David Bachelor has been useful in this 
town ; a revival has taken place. Friday, 5, we went towards 
Buxton, Me., to attend the camp-meeting. At two o'clock we 
came on the ground ; there were twenty preachers, travelling 
and local. Saturday, 6, I preached ; and on the Sunday also. 
Some judged there were about five thousand people on the 
ground. There were displays of Divine power, and some con- 
versions. Our journey into Maine has been through dust and 
heat, in toil of body, and in extraordinary temptation of soul ; 
but I felt that our way was of God." 

On Wednesday, 11th, he arrived at Canaan, N. H., where the 
New England Conference commenced its session the next day. 
About forty-four members were present, besides probationers and 
visiters. The Conference comprised more than half a hundred 
preachers, and presented an aspect not only of numerical, but of 
no little moral and intellectual strength. It included several 
men of staunch force and talent, among whom were Hedding, 
Soule, Pickering, Ostrander, Brodhead, Jayne, Branch, Sabin, 
and Ruter. Thomas Branch was elected secretary, and Daniel 
Webb appointed his assistant. Asbury says : " We went through 
our business with haste and peace, sitting seven hours a day. 
The York Conference address respecting the superintendency 
was concurred in, and the seven Elders for this Conference 
elected accordingly. We did not (to my grief) tell our experi- 
ences, nor make observations as to what we had known of the 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1806-7. 313 

work of God : the members were impatient to be gone, particu- 
larly the married townsmen." 

They exercised however, their usual vigilance in the examina- 
tion of candidates, and the records bear brief but significant tes- 
timony to the thoroughness and frankness of these examina- 
tions. One young man, who had travelled two years, was 
dropped because of "his dislike of discipline and infant bap- 
tism ; " another received the same summary treatment for having 
"left his circuit without the consent of his Presiding Elder," 
though " it was voted that a testimonial of his godly walk be 
given him." Another is pronounced "a man of excellent spirit, 
and a dispassionate speaker." Lewis Bates is said to be " pious, 
useful, — but a loud speaker." Another is said "to want ener- 
gy." William Stevens is pronounced " devout, zealous accept- 
able ; " Dan Young, " persevering, studious, improvable; " Caleb 
Fogg, " plain in address, established in doctrine and discipline, — 
useful." Another was " of small abilities, sincere, humble, meek, 
and promised usefulness; another was " doubtful, — a singular 
character." Eleazer Wells is pronounced " an excellent young 
man, — profitable ; " Solomon Sias' " character was unexception- 
able and devout, and his abilities improvable." Joel Steele is 
said to be "devout, diligent, useful." One is declared to be 
" godly, with a large family," and is " rejected ; " another is 
" pious, zealous, exemplary, abrupt." Henry Martin was " use- 
ful, but labored excessively." Another is " full of oddities, some- 
what useful, improved." Benjamin Bishop had " small abili- 
ties, but was a holy man." 

William Goodhue, Joshua Taylor, Aaron Humphrey, Asa 
Heath, and Alexander McLane, located. Crawford J. Smith 
withdrew. 

The usual financial record is omitted, except intimations that 
the Conference voted to draw on the Chartered Fund for $150, 
on the Book Concern for S300, and a second draft on the latter 
for $300 more, " the dividend of Baltimore Conference." The 
last amount we suppose to be a donation from that noble Confer- 
ence, which for years gave some such annual testimonial of its 
27 



314 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

maternal care for the young Conference which its own sons had 
formed in these Eastern States. 

The Conference voted, in concurrence of a proposition from 
the New York Conference, in favor of a delegated General Con- 
ference, " for the express purpose of strengthening the superintend- 
ency," — yeas twenty -eight, nays fifteen. It was agreed " that 
seven delegates from each Conference were sufficient to form a 
delegated General Conference; " and Joshua Soule, George Pick- 
ering, Daniel Ostrander, Elijah R. Sabin, John Brodhead, Peter 
Jayne, and Daniel Webb, were elected in behalf of the New 
England Conference. 

" On Sunday, 15, 1 ordained," says Asbury, " eleven Elders in 
the woods. At three o'clock I preached in the meeting-house ; 
it was a season of power." 

The next day he was on his route westward ; Tuesday eve- 
ning, at White's river, Vermont, he says : " From New Haven to 
"White's river, we have made, by computation, four hundred and 
sixty miles. I have had sufferings in the flesh, but perfect peace 
of mind." 

On Wednesday, 18, he reached Barnard, Vt. " I preached," 
he writes, " at Thomas Freeman's, on Acts 26 : 17, 18. Here is a 
lively, large society ; we had a full house at a short warning." 

He was at Burlington on Saturday, after a ride, during the 
day, of forty miles. " I am resolved," he there wrote, " to be in 
every part of the work while I live, to preside. I feel as if I 
was fully taught the necessity of being made perfect through 
suiferings and labors. I pass over, in silence, cases of pain and 
grief of body and mind. On the Sabbath I preached in an 
upper room at Fuller's, to about four hundred people : my sub- 
ject was Luke 4 : 18, 19, and God bore witness to his own word. 
Why did I not visit this country sooner ? Ah ! what is the toil 
of beating over rocks, hills, mountains, and deserts, five thou- 
sand miles a year ? — nothing, when we reflect it is done for God, 
for Christ, for the Holy Spirit ; the church of God ; the souls of 
poor sinners ; the preachers of the Gospel in the seven Confer- 
ences, one hundred and thirty thousand members, and one or 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1806-7. 315 

two millions, who congregate with us in the solemn worship of 
God — oh, it is nothing ! " 

On Monday he was again away. He preached at Vergennes 
and Bridport during the day, and at Hampton the day following. 
Sabbath, the 28th, he spent at a camp-meeting in Sharon, Ct., the 
results of which he speaks of as important. " We had," he 
writes, " abundant spiritual harvests. Glory to God ! " 

On Wednesday, July 2nd, he reached New York city. He 
had been accompanied, through his New England tour, by Joseph 
Crawford, who now, he says, " came over the ferry with me. 
When about to part, he turned away his face and wept. Ah ! I 
am not made for such scenes! — I felt exquisite pain." Such 
was the susceptibility of the heart of this great man, who had 
nevertheless isolated himself from the strongest relations of the 
affections, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. It was a remark 
of Melancthon, that " the affections are peculiarly forcible in 
minds of a superior order." It is a tendency of such minds to 
conceal the intensity of their emotions ; but at times the heart 
reveals itself, in spite of the head, and the strong man armed is 
found to carry under his cuirass of strength the sensitive affec- 
tions of the child. Asbury's Journals abound in touches of sen- 
sibility, and present not a few examples of even poetical senti- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 

Ecclesiastical Hans. — Joel Stede. — His Appointnaentg. — Character. — Death. — Caleb 
Fogg. — labors. — Character. — Solomon Sias. — Early Life. — PrLmitire Qrtarterly Meet- 
ing. — Persecution. — Appointments. — Origin of " Zion's Herald." — William Hunt. — 
His History. — Sanctification. — Sublime Death. — Character. 

The appointments of the New England Conference, for the 
year 1S06-7, were as follows : 

Boston District. George Pickering, Presiding Elder. Bos- 
ton, Peter Jayne, Samuel Merwin ; Lynn, Daniel Webb; Marble- 
^ea^, Alfred Metcalf; Salisbury and Salem, WiWmm Stevens; 
ProvincetoKm, Elijah Willard ; Sandwich and Scituate, Erastus 
Otis, Nathaniel Elder; Poplin and Sandown, Henry Martin; 
Nantucket, Joshua Crowell; New Bedford, Epaphras Kibby; 
Newport, Reuben Hubbard ; Bristol and Somerset, Joseph Snell- 
ing ; Rhode Island and Portsmouth, Levi Walker ; Norton and 
Boston, Nehemiah Coye. 

New London District. Thomas Branch, Presiding Elder, 
Pomfret, Thomas Perry, Elisha Streeter; Tolland, John Tink- 
man, Theophilus Smith ; Ashburnham, Benjamin Hill, Bela 
Willis; Needham, John Gove, Thomas Asbury; Providence, 
Pliny Brett, Joseph Smith ; New London, Ebenezer Washburn, 
G. R. Norris, 

Vermont District. Elijah R. Sabin, Presiding Elder. Ver- 
shire, Elijah Hedding; Barre, Philip Hunger, Jonathan Chaney ; 
Danville, Joseph Fairbank, Hollis Sampson ; Stanstead, Philip 
Ayer; Ltmenburg, Joel Steele; Landaff, Asd^ Kent, IsRU-cFeaae. 

New Hampshire District. John Brodhead, Presidirig Elder. 
Barnard and Rochester, Dan Perry, Nathan Fox ; Wethersfield, 
Thomas Skeel ; Athens, Dan Young ; Bridgewater, Joel Winch ; 
Harwver, Joseph Baker; Grantham, Caleb Dustin, Benjamin 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 317 

Bishop; LoudoUy James Young; Tuftenboro\ Lewis Bates, 
Warren Banister; Northfield, Martin Ruter; Centre Harbor ^ 
Hezekiah Field. 

Portland District. Oliver Beale, Presiding Elder. Bow- 
doinham, Daniel Ricker ; Durham, Ebenezer Wells ; Fortland^ 
David Bachelor; ScarboTo\ Joseph Farrar; Falmouth, Sam- 
uel Thompson, Caleb Fogg; Poland, Solomon Sias; Bethel^ 
Clement Parker ; Livermore, John Wilkinson, David Stimson. 

Kennebec District. Joshua Soule, Presiding Elder. Read- 
field, Dyer Burge, Benj. F. Lambord ; Norridgewock, Luther 
Chamberlain; Hallowell, David Carr; Yassalhoro\ John Wil- 
liamson ; Bristol, Allen H. Cobb ; Unioii River, Ebenezer Fair- 
bank; Union, Samuel Hillman, Jonas Weston; Orrington, 
William Hunt ; PLampden, John Green. 

The AsHGRovE District, belonging to the New York Confer- 
ence, and travelled by Daniel Brumley, lay mostly within the 
Eastern States, and included the following New England cir- 
cuits : — Durham and Fletcher, Henry Eames and Reuben Har- 
ris; Brandon, Samuel Howard and George Powers; Grand 
Isle, Dexter Bates; Vergennes, Samuel Draper; Cambridge 
(partly in New York and partly in Vermont), Noble W. Thomas, 
Nathaniel Gage. 

The Rhinebeck District, travelled by Peter Moriarty, was 
also mostly within the Eastern States, only two of its circuits 
bearing New York names. It comprised the following New 
England appointments : — Pittsfield, John Robertson, James M. 
Smith; Whittingham, Laban Clark; South Bolton, William 
Anson ; Litchfield, Nathan Emery, Samuel Cochran ; Granville, 
Eben Smith. 

On the New York District, travelled by William Thatcher, 
were. Redding, Nathan Felch and Oliver Sikes ; Middletown, 
Luman Andrus and Zalmon Lyon. 

The ecclesiastical plans for the year comprised eight districts 
and part of a ninth, sixty-four circuits and stations, and ninety- 
seven preachers, including the Presiding Elders, with the 
exception of Thatcher, who travelled, however, into the heart of 
Connecticut. There had been a gain, during the preceding 
27^ 



318 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

year, of two districts, eight circuits, and niTie preachers. It must 
be borne in mind, however, that while these statistics show a 
real progress, they present no exact measure of it ; for the numer- 
ical increase or diminution of the districts and circuits often 
depended upon modifications of their former boundaries; yet 
such modifications were the result of the actual growth of the 
church. 

The name of Joel Steele is reported this year, for the 
first time, among the appointments of the Itinerant ministry. 
He was born in Tolland, Conn., August 17th, 1782. When 
about twenty-two years of age, his attention was awakened to 
religion, under the ministry of the Methodist Itinerants, who, 
about that time, began their labors in that part of Connecticut. 
He labored as an exhorter and as a local preacher for some 
years, and in 1806 joined the New England Conference. 
" His first circuit," says one of his old fellow-laborers,=^ " was 
Lunenburg, near the Canada line, some two hundred miles from 
his father's house, — and not a very small field of labor either. 
His next circuit was Harwich, on Cape Cod, at least three 
hundred miles distant from his last circuit, and no nearer his 
home. His field of labor this year embraced all the lower part 
of the Cape. It was hard labor, hard fare, and some fruit ; but 
no complaining. His next appointment was Bristol, in the 
State of Maine. This removal was even greater than that 
of the preceding year. It was on his way to Maine that I had 
the privilege of hearing him preach, for the first time. Both the 
text and the sermon are indelibly impressed upon my memory. 
The discourse was plain, simple truth, delivered with apostolic 
power and energy. In 1809 we find him in Vermont, on the 
Vershire circuit. Two hundred miles were common removals in 
those days ; and, to graduate regularly, a preacher must visit Cape 
Cod, travel in Maine, and burnish up on the hills of Vermont. 
Ashburnham, New London, East Greenwich, Barre, Baraard, 
Vershire, Wethersfield, Unity, were his subsequent circuits, in 
course. Preachers that travelled these circuits were three weeks 
from home; and one week their appointments were in the 

* Rev. T. C. Pierce. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 319 

neighborhood of home. On the Barre circuit, in 1806, I was 
permitted to be Brother Steele's colleague. Here I became 
more intimately acquainted with him, and can speak of him 
with greater confidence. He was unwearied in his labors, 
preaching ten or twelve times a week ; faithful in pastoral visits, 
exercising a power of faith, and a freedom in prayer, connected 
with a humble view of himself, and an entire exemption from 
envy and jealousy, which altogether made him a most desira- 
ble colleague. If his success in other fields of labor may be 
judged by his success on the Barre circuit, he may truly be 
styled a revival minister ; and there is no doubt in my mind but 
there are very many hundreds, if not thousands, who will be 
stars in his crown of rejoicing. Wellfleet, Eastham, Sandwich, 
Saugus, Marlboro', Barnstable, Chatham, Truro, Weymouth, 
Easton, Walpole, were his later fields of labor. During his 
ministry, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Providence 
Conferences were set oflf from what was called the New Eng- 
land Conference. At the last division, he received his appoint- 
ment in the Providence Conferences ; and when Walpole was 
transferred back to the New England Conference, he, being sta- 
tioned there, came with it, and subsequently was appointed to 
Gloucester." 

During a number of years he suflTered from a cancerous affec- 
tion of the lip, which at last terminated his useful life. In 
1845 he was placed on the superannuated list of the New Eng- 
land Conference, and on the 23d of August, the ensuing year, 
he expired, in the peace of the Gospel. A ministerial brother, 
who attended his last days, writes : " I have been privileged 
with much of his company. I have much admired the fortitude 
with which he bore his great sufferings, — the patience he exer- 
cised, and the heavenly spirit he continually manifested. My 
colleague, or myself, attended prayers with him at least once a 
day, and many of them were very interesting seasons to us. 
He seemed to feel most deeply, and often shouted, 'Glory to 
(lod ! ' The nature of his disease was such that it was with 
difficulty that he could speak; yet at times he would break 
out, — ' My faith is clear as the sun ! There is not the shadow 



320 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of a dimming veil or doubt concerning myself, or the religion I 
have preached and recommended to others ! ' " # 

As he approached the hour of his deliverance, both his suffer- 
ings and his triumphs increased. The last week of his life was 
especially memorable to his family. He was within the pre- 
cincts of heaven; and it seemed as if the "excellent glory" shone 
through its gates upon him, as he approached them. He 
expressed assurance of his final victory. The day before he 
died, he took a solemn and most affecting leave of his friends, 
delivering to them his last counsels. He gave also to a brother 
clergyman a " memorable charge." As a providential relief to 
his agonies, he soon after sunk into a lethargy; but would fre- 
quently arouse himself for an instant, exclaiming, "Glory! glory 
to God in the highest! All is well." At last, as the summer 
Sabbath closed, the veteran soldier of the cross entered into his 
eternal rest. The church lamented him as one of its patriarchs. 
The beautiful purity of his character endeared him to all good 
men who had the happiness to enjoy his acquaintance. His 
brethren of the New England Conference say : " He possessed 
an amiable, humble, and cheerful spirit ; and was exceedingly 
liberal in feeling toward all Christians. His heart was ever 
alive to the things of God, and to the interests of his great work, 
which he was reluctant to give up. He possessed a clear under- 
standing, sober sense, simplicity, and fervor. His preaching was 
plain, manly, earnest, with a degree of pathos, and often with 
much effect. He was laborious while his health lasted, and 
never shrunk from the trials of his lot." t 

How similar are our records of most of these good and truly 
great men ! They lived like saints, labored like giants, and died 
like conquerors. Such is the uniform tenor of their noble his- 
tory. Another hero of the period passes before us for the first 
time the present year, — the veteran Caleb Fogg, of precious 
memory in Maine. He was born in Epping, Vt., March 17th, 
1761. The 12th day of January, 1795, he commemorated as 
the date of his religious life. He was converted among the lit- 
tle company of Methodists who formed, at Monmouth, the first 

* Rev. H. M. Bridge. t Minutes, 1847. 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 321 

Class in Maine, and in 1795 was appointed their leader. In 
1798 he was licensed as an exhorter, and in 1800 as a local 
preacher. Asbury ordained him a local deacon, at the Buxton 
Conference of 1804 ; and at the Canaan session of the present 
year, he was admitted as a probationer. His appointments, 
down to 1813, were Falmouth, Hallowell, Norridgewock, Booth- 
bay, Readfield, Georgetown and Bristol circuits, all in Maine. 
After performing faithful and self-sacrificing service in these 
charges, he located, but continued to labor incessantly for the 
church. In 1817 he resumed his travels, and was appointed 
successively to Livermore and Vienna, Livermore, Poland, 
Scarboro', Gray, Readfield, Durham and Pittston circuits, 
Maine. In 1828 he was placed on the supernumerary list, and 
in 1830, " on account of the infirmities of age, and past faithful 
services, his brethren most cheerfully granted him a superannu- 
ated relation." ^ The heroic spirit of the old Itinerant still 
bore him up ; and, though bending under nearly three-score 
years and ten, he continued to travel, visiting the societies, and 
preaching and praying among the people, until, within a few 
months of his death. He rejoined his old fellow-laborers, in 
heaven, Sept. 6, 1839, in the 78th year of his age. He has left 
an impression on thousands of minds, which cannot soon forget 
him. " Caleb Fogg," says the obituary of the Maine Confer- 
ence, " was no ordinary man. He was a perfect original, — 
himself in and out of the pulpit, for he copied no man in matter 
or manner. His Bible was always about him. As a preacher, 
he was plain, faithful, and unvarnished in the delineation of 
truth. As a laborer, he stood high in the estimation of his 
brethren, and his piety was of no ordinary cast. Two of his 
brethren in the ministry called on him a few weeks before his 
death, to whom he said, with holy animation, ' I have peace with 
God ; — all is well.' Thus lived and died our much-beloved and 
never-to-be-forgotten Brother Fogg, and we have no doubt he 
rests where ' none shall say, I am sick.' " 

Solomon Sias was born in Loudon, N. H., Feb. 25, 1781. 
When between nine and ten years of age, he was so seriously 

♦ Minutes, 1S41. 



322 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

impressed with a sense of his need of Divine mercy, that for a 
season he used to go by himself into secret, and kneeling before 
the Lord, offer the petitions of a child to his Heavenly Father. 
His prayers were those of a child, and his faith that of a child, 
also ; and the Lord gave him a blessing suited to the capacity 
of a child. He was spiritually blessed and comforted, and con- 
tinued in this enjoyment for a season ; but not being favored 
with religious instruction, he lost his enjoyment, yet not the 
remembrance of it. He has often been heard to allude to it, in 
speaking of his early religious exercises, since he has become a 
preacher of the Gospel. 

In 1792 he removed, with his parents, to Danville, Vt. Sev- 
eral providential events marked this early part of his history, and 
left a deep impression on his heart. In the autumn of 1803, a 
Quarterly Meeting was held in Danville. The Love Feast 
was at the house of Dr. Uri Babbit, on Sabbath morning. When 
Mr. Sias arrived, he saw a young man sitting on the door-step, 
who asked him if he wished to go in. He replied that he did. 
The young man answered, " You cannot go in ; the door is 
closed." At this he was deeply affected, and the thought 
revolved in his mind, " Shall I come, at last, when the door shall 
be forever shut against me ? " After sitting and reflecting a while, 
he rose and went to the window, where he stood and looked in, 
and heard the testimonies of Christian experience. At the close 
of the Love Feast, an invitation was given for those to rise who 
wished religion ; among them were some of his youthful associ- 
ates. This deepened the impression already made upon his 
mind. On returning home, he walked out and reviewed the 
scenes of the day, together with his own moral condition ; and 
from that hour he resolved to seek religion. Having heard the 
preacher make some appointments for the week, he went to them, 
and afterwards became a regular attendant on the Methodist min- 
istry. His convictions were deep, — his reflections on his past life 
painful, — and at times he thought all hope of mercy was gone. 
At length he came to the conclusion, that if he perished, he would 
perish at the throne of grace, pleading for pardon. In about 
three months, another Quarterly Meeting was held at Danville ; 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 323 

he attended. When in the Love Feast, he took his seat in a cor- 
ner of the room, and sat in silence. While others were speaking, 
it was strongly impressed on his mind to rise and express his 
feelings ; but he put the question to himself, " What can I 
say ? " The answer seemed from above, — " The Holy Ghost 
shall teach you in that hour what ye shall say." Not having 
fkith, he was afraid to trust the word. He meditated what to 
say, and rose to speak. The Spirit truly taught him what to 
say ; which was, to confess that he was a sinner, — needed reli- 
gion, — was resolved to seek it, and to ask the prayers of all 
God's people. These he undoubtedly received ; and in about 
ten days after (December, 1803), while in his chamber, in fer- 
vent prayer, the Lord spoke peace to his soul. Not long after, 
his name was enrolled on the Class paper. 

Mr. Sias passed through the usual graduation of our earlier 
ministry, — from the office of an exhorter to that of a local 
preacher, and finally to the Itinerancy. On the 25th of Sep- 
tember, 1805, he obeyed the call of his Presiding Elder, Elijah 
R. Sabin, and began to travel. He had a fair initiation to the 
lights and shadows of the travelling ministry. The first public 
service he attended was a Quarterly Meeting on Whittingham 
circuit. As the Methodists had but few meeting-houses in 
those early days, their Quarterly Meetings, in the warm seasons 
of the year, were usually held in barns or groves ; and, in the 
cold seasons, in private dwellings. At this meeting, the preach- 
ing on Saturday was in a barn, which was prepared and seated 
for the Sabbath. After the day service, prayer-meetings were 
appointed for the evening. The young candidate put up with a 
Baptist brother, at whose house one of the social prayer-meetings 
was held. While all were kneeling, and engaged in supplication, 
"the power of God fell upon the people, and in an instant about 
twenty were prostrate on the floor ; " ^ the Divine glory seemed 
to fill the house. The next morning he repaired early to the 
place where public worship was to be held. On entering, he 
saw an effigy suspended by a rope, directly before the preacher's 
stand. He gave the Presiding Elder notice of it, and they, with 

* Rev. Mr. Sias to the author. 



324 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the gentleman of the house, privately took it down and deposited 
it under the floor. On Monday, as they passed through Brat- 
tleboro', a man came out of a printing-office with a bottle in his 
hand, and ironically asked them to drink with him. At the 
south end of the street they passed a tailor's shop, where there 
appeared to be a mock prayer-meeting. Such were the ordi- 
nary trials of our primitive ministry. 

Mr. Sias was received on probation, at the Conference of the 
present year, and sent to Poland circuit. Me. His subsequent 
appointments were, in 1807, Barnard and Rochester; 1808, 
Barre ; 1809, Athens, and 1810, Wethersfield, all in Vermont. 
In 1811, he was appointed to the charge of the New Hampshire 
district, which embraced that part of Vermont that borders on 
the Connecticut, from Canada to Lunenburg ; all New Hamp- 
shire from Canada south to Charlestown on the Connecticut ; 
Hooksett, Allenstown and Pembroke, on the Merrimack, and 
Rochester, on the Cocheco, near Dover ; it included, also, sev- 
eral towns in Maine, bordering on New Hampshire. Con- 
way circuit, situated in the Pigwocket country, east of the 
White Mountains, and embracing a number of towns in Maine, 
as well as in New Hampshire, was this year taken from Port- 
land district, and connected with that of New Hampshire. 
The Presiding Elder of this vast charge had to perform gigantic 
labors. The ride on horse-back was, yearly, more than three 
thousand miles, over a rough and mountainous country. Mr. 
Sias travelled it in the midst of those memorable cold seasons 
which commenced in 1806, and continued ten years. Provis- 
ions were extremely scarce ; in many places nearly approaching 
famine. The people travelled distances that might almost be 
termed journeys, to procure corn. The scarcity became such, 
that those who could not procure bread, dug up the roots of the 
buckthorn (a species of shrub resembling wild brake, but more 
nutritious), and boiled it with their milk, to make it more nour- 
ishing. And, in some families, mothers made bread for their 
children of flour sifted from ground cobs. This scarcity was 
accompanied by an epidemic, called the spotted fever, or the 
cold plague. Its ravages were alarming, and its progress so 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 325 

rapid, that often the victim would be a corpse in a few hours 
after the first symptoms were known. The people, in many 
places, made common interest under the calamity. Town-meet- 
ings were called, physicians employed, medicines procured, 
and other necessaries provided, at the public expense. The fol- 
lowing year, 1812, the United States declared war against Great 
Britain. This involved the churches in new troubles. The 
sword, the famine and the pestilence, combined, produced an 
excitement which was very unfavorable to religion. The labors 
of the preachers were great, their compensations small, and their 
sufferings beyond description. Amid these multiplied scenes of 
woe, Mr. Sias' heart sunk, and he wrote to his friends to prepare 
him a resting-place until the calamities should be overpast. 
Now came the test. " Will not the good shepherd lay down 
his life for the sheep?" "Is it not the hireling that fleeth 
when he seeth the wolf coming ? " " What will become of 
the flock, if you leave them ? " " Do they not more than ever 
need your labors, your prayers, your counsels, your visits of com- 
fort and consolation ? " He revolved these questions, and came 
to the final conclusion to live or die with the people of his charge. 
As Presiding Elder, he shared with the preachers of his district 
in their quarterly receipts, according to the disciplinary ratio 
belonging to each; and received $19.75 as his dividend for 
his first year's services. His travelling expenses, in perform- 
ing a tour of more than three thousand miles on horseback, 
amounted to $18.71. This, subtracted from the amount of his 
receipts, left $1.04 as his salary for his first year's labors on the 
district. The next year, from June 1812 to June 1813, yielded 
a somewhat better support. His receipts were $25.60, — his 
travelling expenses, $20.27, — which, deducted from the sum 
received, left him $5.33, the amount of his second year's salary. 
From June 1813 to June 1814, his receipts were $40.18, — 
travelling expenses, $21.74, — leaving him $18.24 for his third 
year's salary. His accounts from June 1814 to June 1815 are 
lost ; but he continued his services on the district four years, with 
similar compensation for his services. 

His long rides produced hernia, from which he has never 
28 



326 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

recovered. On account of his bodily infirmities, he was 
appointed, in 1815, to the " station " of Lynn, with George Pick- 
ering. In 1816 he was sent to Marblehead ; in 1817 and 1818, 
Providence, R. I. ; 1819 and 1820, Portland, Me.; 1821, Fair- 
haven, Mass.; 1822, New Bedford, Mass.; 1823, Fairhaven 
and New Bedford, Mass. ; 1824, Boston. He continued in 
charge at Boston until the first of October, when he undertook 
the publication of Zion's Herald. 

The Methodists in New England had long felt the need of 
a medium through which they might defend themselves, and 
the doctrines and government of their church, against the attacks 
and false representations of their adversaries. In 1815 a publica- 
tion was commenced, entitled, " The New England Missionary 
Magazine." It was edited by Martin Ruter, and printed at Con- 
cord, N. H., by Isaac Hill. It ceased, after four quarterly 
numbers had been issued. In 1821 the New England Con- 
ference formed an association, styled the " Society for giving 
and receiving Religious Intelligence." This gave rise to the 
establishment of Zion's Herald, printed by Moore & Prouse, 
under the direction of the committee of the society, of which 
Elijah Hedding was president. The first number was printed 
January 9th, 1823, on a small royal sheet, the pages measuring 
only nine by sixteen inches. At the commencement of the 
second volume, the size of the sheet was enlarged. The patron- 
age was small, and the publishers became involved. To save 
the credit of the Conference, and keep the Herald in circulation, 
it became necessary to purchase the paper from its publishers, 
with their books, and to put the whole establishment under the 
direction of the committee of the New England Conference. 
This committee met in Boston, and, on the recommendation of 
Barber Badger, the editor, came to the conclusion to purchase 
the paper, and conduct the business as the property of the 
Conference. They appointed S. Sias, J. Bonney, and D. 
Young, a sub-committee to carry the plan into effect. Seri- 
ous embarrassments soon appeared in their way. The Con- 
ference was not a corporate body. Their committee had no 
legal powers, and the sub-committee had no security. What- 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 327 

ever might be done must be on personal responsibility. Messrs. 
Bonney and Young therefore resigned their appointment, and 
requested Mr. Sias to proceed in his own name, and on his own 
private responsibility. He accordingly contracted with the pub- 
lishers, and taking a transfer in his own name, became per- 
sonally holden for all liabilities. To give success to the enter- 
prise, a new office, and the whole printing apparatus, together 
with a select company of workmen, must be obtained. Money 
was requisite for these changes. To help him to this, Messrs. 
Thomas Patten, William W. Motley, and John Clark, endorsed 
for him to the City Bank, in the sum of two thousand dollars ; 
and took a mortgage of the establishment as their security. A 
new office was obtained, in Congress-street, and furnished with 
printing machinery. Mr. Sias entered the office as publisher, 
and Mr. Badger as editor. Specimen numbers were struck off 
in October, containing the prospectus, and sent to all the Itiner- 
ant Methodist preachers in the United States to whom access 
could be obtained through the post-office. About the first of 
January, 1825, subscribers' names were sent in from all parts of 
the country, to commence with the new year. In a short time 
he had them in every state of the Union, both the Canadas, 
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland ; but from 
the people of New England its chief support was derived. It 
was their own beloved offspring, and shared largely in their 
sympathies and affections. To keep such a machine in motion, 
more money must be had. The trustees of the Methodist religious 
society in Boston endorsed for him in the sum of five thousand 
dollars, at the Commonwealth Bank; and, having cancelled 
the first mortgage, he secured them on the establishment. 
The subscribers constantly increased during the time Mr. 
Sias continued in the office, which was three years ; and when 
he retired the weekly issues numbered about six thousand. 
He closed his connection with the paper at the end of his 
third year, Sept. 30th, 1827. He had taken up his note 
of five thousand dollars at the Commonwealth Bank, met all 
his other liabilities, and left, for the benefit of his successors, in 
various kinds of property, somewhat over eight thousand dollars, 



d2S MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

besides a list of about six thousand subscribers. The net profits 
of the Herald, after meeting all its expenses and liabilities, from 
Oct. 1, 1824, to Oct. 1, 1827, were eight thousand and eighteen 
dollars and ninety-four cents. The net profits of the last quar- 
ter, from July 1 to Oct. 1, 1827, were eight hundred and forty- 
seven dollars and sixty cents. 

Such was the origin of Zion's Herald, — a paper which still 
flourishes, and which has had a leading agency in most of 
the great interests and fortunes of the church during more than 
a quarter of a century. Mr. Sias conducted the experiment of 
its publication with decided ability. 

In most of the appointments we have mentioned, his labors 
were attended with marked success; especially was this the 
case at Providence, Portland, and New Bedford. We shall 
have occasion hereafter to refer to his ministrations in these 
stations. On terminating his relation to the Herald, he was 
placed on the supernumerary list of the New England Confer- 
ence. He had done faithful service during twenty-two years, 
and was now permitted to retire to the same paternal farm 
from which, in 1805, he went forth into the Itinerant ministry. 
In consideration of his physical infirmities, occasioned by the 
exposures and labors of his early circuits, he was granted, in 
1828, a superannuated relation to the Conference. He still 
lives among us — a veteran of three-score years and ten, witness- 
ing with joy the continued triumphs of the cause for which he 
labored and sacrificed so much in the days of his earlier vigor. 

William Hunt was admired and lamented for the promise 
of his youthful but brief ministry. He was one of those 
" shining marks " which " death loves." He was born at East 
Sudbury, Mass., June 9th, 1787, and early manifested an 
unusually amiable disposition and a precocious intelligence. 
Misdirected reading, however, introduced him, even when quite 
young, to speculative errors in religion. From these he was 
rescued, through the instrumentality of the Methodist ministry. 
When in his fifteenth year, he was soundly converted to God. 
He continued, with much success, his academic studies, but betook 
himself also, with constant interest, to the study of the Holy 



APPOINTMENTS AND PREACHERS. 329 

Scriptures, portions of which he daily committed to memory. 
In the eighteenth year of his age he received license as a local 
preacher, and in 1806 entered, with youthful but sanctified 
ardor, the Itinerant ministry. He was first appointed to Orring- 
ton circuit. Me., and in 1807 to Conway, Me. In 1808 he 
travelled Bridge water circuit, N. H. This year was an epoch 
in his brief but luminous career. He renewedly and entirely 
consecrated himself to God, by a special covenant, and received 
the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of entire 
sanctification, a tenet which Wesley considered the chief 
responsibility of Methodism,^ was an element of extraordinary 
power among our primitive preachers. Its exemplification in 
their lives clothed them with a glorious sanctity, and its promul- 
gation in their ministrations spread " a savor of life unto life 
among the people." It stamped forever the character of this 
young ambassador of Christ, and through his instrumentality 
the characters of others who were blessed with his devoted 
ministry. 

His appointment for 1809 was at Marblehead, Mass. ; but 
here symptoms of pulmonary disease, with which he had been 
some time afflicted, assumed a fatal severity, and he was com- 
pelled to retire from his labors. He went to his parental home, 
at Penobscot, to die, giving thanks to God on his way for the 
great consolation of the Gospel. He paused on his route at a 
Quarterly Meeting, on Tuftonboro' circuit, " where," says 
Ebenezer F. Newell, " My soul was blest. Bro. Hunt was 
present, on his way home to die (for he died in a few months). 
He had worn himself down by exposures in travelling and 
preaching, in hopes of winning precious souls to Christ. In 
addressing the people, he said, ' Do you ask if I am not sorry 
for thus exposing myself ? I ansv^^er. No : and had I ten lives, I 
would lay them all down in so good a cause.' " Protracted suf- 
ferings followed, but they were borne with unwavering patience 
and trust in his Lord. " With the deepest humility, modesty, and 

* •■' This doctrine is the grand depositum which God has lodged with the people called 
Methodists ; and for the sake of propagating this chiefly he appears to have raised 
us up." — Wesley's Works, vol. vii., p. 154. 

26^ 



330 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

triumph, he said ' I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crowii of life.' " Devoted to God in his life, and aspiring after his 
immediate presence amidst the pantings of death, this young saint 
departed at last in a manner befitting his character. His difficulty 
of breathing required him to sit in a chair till a few moments 
before his death ; faint with the last struggle, he asked to be 
laid on a bed. Having gained a brief repose, he begged his 
friends to help him upon his knees, and while they sustained 
him in this suppliant posture, his purified spirit ascended to the 
presence of his God. Those who witnessed the scene could 
appreciate the ancient prayer, "Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his." The obituary of the 
New England Conference, which we attribute to Kev. Bishop 
Soule, says : " As a Christian, in the profession both of justifying 
and sanctifying grace, he was a pattern of devotion. As a scholar, 
few have excelled him in the branches of literature he pursued. 
As a minister, he was sound in doctrine, and well read in the 
Holy Scriptures. He possessed correct views of Gospel order 
and discipline, and was in his life a comment upon them. He 
possessed, in a large measure, the grand principle of ministerial 
oratory, the power of the Holy Ghost. I have been intimately 
acquainted with him, and can say, with propriety, I have known 
but few in whom so many Christian and ministerial excel- 
lences were united." He died June 10th, 1810. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

INCIDENTS AND RESULTS 

Death of Bishop Whatcoat. — His History. — Character. — Asbury's Estimate of him. — 
Eulogium at his Grave. — Laborers in Maine. — Solomon Sias at Harrison. — New Hamp- 
shire. — Ebenezer F. Newell. — Anecdotes. — New London Circuit. — Trials. — Abner 
Wood. — Colchester. — Revivals. — Statistics. 

The present ecclesiastical year was rendered memorable by 
the decease of the sainted Whatcoat, — the first death in the his- 
tory of the Methodist episcopacy. In four out of the six years 
of his superintendence, he presided at the sessions of the New- 
England Conference. .We have already noticed his eminent 
virtues as a private and public man ; but, as we here take our 
final leave of him, it is a fitting place for a final reference to his 
life and character. It is to be regretted that any notice of him 
must necessarily be but a reference. No biographical document, 
no portrait, nor scarcely a letter, which can throw light upon his 
history, is extant. But his memory and his image are precious 
to the hearts of the few venerable Methodists who survive from 
his day, and who revered him as one that, like Enoch, " walked 
with God." 

Richard Whatcoat was born in Quinton, Gloucestershire, 
England, in the year 1736. He removed early to the town of 
Darlaston, Staffordshire, where, in his twenty-first year, he 
became a hearer of Wesley's travelling " helpers." Disposed from 
his earliest life to serious reflection, he very soon felt the influ- 
ence of the powerful ministrations of those devoted men ; and 
on the third day of September, 1758, believed in the Lord Jesus 
Christ unto salvation. His Christian experience seems to have 
been very definitely marked, for he was able to refer it to precise 
dates. On the 28th of March, 1761, after re-consecrating him- 
self entirely to God, he was enabled to believe that " the blood 



332 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of Jesus Christ cleansed him from all sin ;" and the day was 
ever sacred in his memory as the date of his " sanctification." It 
left its impress on his whole subsequent life ; and after professing 
and preaching this great grace through forty-five years, his 
brethren in the ministry, .as we have already noticed, affirmed, 
that, " if any man on earth possessed it, surely it was Richard 
Whatcoat." -^ 

After exercising his talents as a Leader, Steward, and Local 
Preacher, successfully, for eight or nine years, he was received 
by Wesley into the travelling ministry. Sixteen years he 
spent in the Wesleyan Itinerancy, at its most difficult posts, in 
England, Ireland and Wales, and in its most troubled times. 
He was found faithful in all trials, indefatigable in his travels, 
impressive and effective in the pulpit, given to prayer and study, 
and full of faith and the Holy Ghost. Wesley perceived in him 
qualifications for extensive usefulness in the boundless field of 
evangelical labor which was opening in the New World, and 
sent him hither in 1784, with Dr. Coke, having first ordained 
him a Presbyter. He thus shared in those solemn proceedings 
of the founder of Methodism, in 1784, which led to the organiza- 
tion of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States. He 
attended the celebrated Christmas Conference, at which our pres- 
ent ecclesiastical polity was adopted, and, as a presbyter, assisted 
Coke in the ordination of Asbury, — the first Methodist ordin- 
ation in the New World. His appointments, in this country, 
down to the date of his election to the episcopal office, were, 
from 1785 to 1790, Presiding Elder, in various sections of the 
Baltimore Conference ; 1790, Philadelphia, exercising mean- 
while the office of Presiding Elder over the adjacent circuits ; 
1791, New York; 1792, Baltimore; 1793, Presiding Elder in 
Baltimore Conference. In 1796, we miss his name in the Min- 
utes, by a typographical error, doubtless, as it reappears, the next 
year, among the list of Presiding Elders of the Baltimore Con- 
ference, which office he continued to sustain till his election to 
the episcopacy, at the General Conference, in 1800. Notwith- 
standing he was advanced in life when raised to this laborious 

* Minutes, 1807. 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 333 

position, he " magnified his office," say his fellow-laborers, " by 
travelling annually three or four thousand miles, through all the 
United States." ^ 

These long journeys were mostly performed on horseback, 
and, to no small extent, on new and rough roads, along the 
frontier of the nation. His exertions contributed much to the 
growth of Methodism in this country. When he arrived, the 
church included about fifteen thousand members, and eighty- 
three preachers ; when he fell, it was in the midst of more than 
one hundred and thirty thousand members, and more than four 
hundred and fifty preachers. 

Having already spoken of his characteristics, as a man, a 
Christian, and a minister of the Gospel, we need not here remark 
upon them at length. " Holiness unto the Lord " was the great 
lesson of his discourses and of his example ; and all who came 
within the sphere of his influence felt that a peculiar sanctity 
enveloped and glorified his person. Men took impressive notice 
that he " had been with Jesus," and that his daily walk was 
close on the margin of the spiritual world. When exhausted by 
travels and labors, and agonies of pain, his sainted spirit, strong 
and tranquil in God, still triumphed. " He was," write his 
brethren, "a prodigy of pain and patience, for thirteen weeks." 
He died, in full assurance of faith, July 5th, 1806, in Dover, 
Delaware. Asbury, receiving at a distance intelligence of his 
death, recorded the following emphatic testimony to his excel- 
lences : — "On my return, I found a letter from Dr. Chandler, 
declaring the death of Bishop Whatcoat, that father in Israel, 
and my faithful friend for forty years, — a man of solid parts, a 
self-denying man of God. Who ever heard him speak an idle 
word ? When was guile found in his mouth ? He had been 
thirty-eight years in the ministry, — sixteen years in England, 
Wales and Ireland, and twenty-two years in America ; twelve 
years as Presiding Elder ; four of this time he was stationed in 
the cities, or travelled with me, and six years in the super- 
intendency. A man so uniformly good I have not known, 
in Europe or America. He had been afflicted with gravel and 

* Minutes, 1807. 



334 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

stone, in which afflictions, nevertheless, he travelled a great deal, 

— three thousand miles the last year. He bore, in the last 
three months, exceedingly painful illness, with most exemplary 
patience. He died in Dover, on the 5th of July, and his mortal 
remains were interred under the altar of the Wesleyan Dover 
church. At his taking leave of the South Carolina Conference, 
I thought his time was short. I changed my route to visit him, 
but only reached within a hundred and thirty miles : death was 
too quick for me." ^ 

Asbury, heeding the calls of duty, pursued his route over the 
land; but, nearly a year after the death of his beloved col- 
league, went on a melancholy pilgrimage to his sepulchre, and 
preached over it a discourse on 2 Tim. 3 : 10, — " But thou hast 
fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long- 
suffering, charity, patience." He remarked, " that he had known 
Richard Whatcoat from his own age of fourteen to sixty-two 
years, most intimately, and had tried him most accurately, in 
the soundness of his faith, in the doctrine of universal depravity, 
and the complete and general atonement ; the insufficiency of 
either moral or ceremonial righteousness for justification, in 
opposition to faith alone in the merit and righteousness of 
Christ ; the doctrine of regeneration and sanctification ; his holy 
manner of life, — in duty at all times, in all places, and before 
all people, as a Christian, and as a minister; his long-suffering, 

— a man of great affliction of body and mind, having been 
exercised with severe diseases and great labors. But this did 
not abate his charity, his love of God and man, in all its effects, 
tempers, words and actions ; bearing, with resignation and 
patience, great temptations, bodily labors, and inexpressible pain. 
In life and death placid and calm : as he lived, so he died." 

But let us turn to the living workmen. The labors of the 
present year were not without encouraging results. Joshua 
Soule and Elijah Beale superintended an energetic band of 
Itinerants in Maine, among whom were E lea zer Wells, Sam- 
uel Hillman, Allen H. Cobb, Solomon Sias, Caleb Fogg, and 
others of similar character. Under their efforts, Methodism con- 

* Journal, vol. iii., p. 201. 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 335 

tinued to extend. They added another circuit to their spacious 
field, and increased somewhat, though not greatly, the member- 
ship of its societies. Solomon Sias travelled Poland circuit. 
There was but little interest on the circuit, except at Harrison, 
where a revival commenced, under the following circumstances. 
Having arrived at the place of his appointment, a private house, 
he commenced the services, and took for his text the words of 
the prophet, Amos 4: 12, — "Prepare to meet thy God." At 
the beginning of the discourse, he had "much liberty in speak- 
ing. But, when about half through it, the tempter assailed him, 
and made him believe that his preaching was not acceptable, — 
that the people did not wisfi to hear him, — that he was doing 
no good, and had better conclude the meeting. He accordingly 
brought the service to a close as soon as he consistently could. 
When he knelt in prayer, a young man dropped on his knees 
near to him. He held a Class-raieeting, and there found, to his 
great surprise, that the gentleman of the house had been con- 
verted under this very discourse ; and the young man who knelt 
v/as his host's brother, and was awakened under the same ser- 
mon. The work of grace spread, and a goodly number were 
converted, and united in Christian fellowship."^ 

Brodhead had under his guidance a vigorous corps of Itiner- 
ants on the New Hampshire district, — Lewis Bates, Benjamin 
Bishop, Martin Ruter, &c. They returned 1706 members, 
and had gained during the year 441. Ebenezer F. Newell, 
not yet a member of the Conference, travelled Centre Harbor 
circuit, on this district, as colleague of Hezekiah Field, and 
witnessed good results of his labors, and not a few trials. " A 
door," he says,t " was opened in Conway, near Maine, where 
the Methodists were not known; I entered, and was kindly 
received by my Calvinist Baptist brethren. Several young 
people were deeply awakened. But, on my return in three 
weeks, my pleasing prospect of a revival was blasted ! But few 
attended my meeting, and most of these were children, and all 
of them were unconverted persons." 

A clergyman had discovered that he did not believe in repro- 

* Letter to the writer. t Life and Observations, 



336 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

bation, and the whole popular current was suddenly changed. 
Such was the tenacity of dogmatic opinions in that day. " In 
visiting the people they all appeared to shun me as an impostor ! 
And it was the example and counsel of their preacher that had 
brought this change over .the face of things. But, alas ! alas ! in 
a few short weeks, nine of those lovely, blooming youth, who 
were present at my first meeting and appeared deeply convicted 
of sin, were cut off and laid in the silent grave ; and some of 
them died without hope ! The one that was converted at my 
first meeting was among them, and died happy. But a door 
was opened in another part of the town, two or three miles dis- 
tant; so I left this people with a hes^y heart, for they seemed to 
me like those spoken of in Matt. 23 : 13, who shut up the king- 
dom of God against men, and neither enter themselves nor suf- 
fer those who would to enter in. I entered the new opening, and 
my first text was John 1:11, 12. The people turned in to hear 
me, and during the exercises there was an unusually severe 
thunder-shower. When I concluded my discourse, the rain was 
pouring down in such torrents that it prevented the people from 
leaving ; so, after singing a hymn, I continued speaking on the 
subject of Christ's coming to judgment; the increasing tempest 
rendered the occasion doubly moving and awful I Flash suc- 
ceeded flash, and peal followed peal, until, at length, one daz- 
zling chain of blaze streamed down, attended by a tremendous 
roar of bursting thunder, which seemed to shake creation ; the 
house trembled, and the affrighted people swayed as though they 
would fall from their seats. But I felt calm and safe in the 
hands of Him who maketh the pathway for the lightning, and 
my soul was happy. Praise God ! I asked the people how they 
could bear the thoughts of the elements melting with fervent 
heat, the heavens passing away with a great noise, the resur- 
rection of the dead, and the dreadful realities of the judg- 
ment day, if one peal of thunder and one flash of lightning so 
terrified them here ! The power of God was felt ; backsliders 
were reclaimed, and sinners awakened. A goodly number, twelve 
or fourteen, were so deeply convicted that they had no rest until 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 337 

they obtained the witness that God, for Christ's sake, had for- 
given their sins." 

" It was a blessed, a prosperous year," he adds. " By the 
power of God, victories were gained over sin, through conver- 
sions." On reaching one of his appointments, he was told that 
a number of men had come up from Fryeburg, threatening to 
carry that disturber of good order (as they called him) out of the 
place on a rail ! " But," said the young men, " we are resolved to 
stand by you." A holy boldness filled his soul, and he thanked 
them, saying, " One who is stronger than all of you is here ; pray 
to God, and all shall be well ! " " My text," he says, " was Isa. 
21 : 11, 12, — ' Watchman, what of the night ? &c.' Truth cut, 
— the way was clear, and a door was opened through which I 
passed even to Fryeburg, and preached to them in peace in 
their own town. Glory to God for success ! " 

One cause of hostility to these effective preachers was the 
extraordinary results which followed their labors ; the prostra- 
tion of their hearers as dead men, the liveliness (sometimes, 
perhaps, extreme) of their worship, and the zeal with which 
devoted women, as well as men, exhorted their neighbors to a 
religious life. One instance, which excited no little remark on 
this circuit, had a termination that could not fail to touch the 
hearts and close the mouths of scorners. It was that of a young 
lady who was subject to the inexplicable effects of religious 
emotion on the physical strength, to which we have often alluded, 
and who was especially faithful in her testimony for Christ 
among her neighbors. She was called to the test of death. 
" When told that she was dying, she began to shout and clap 
her hands, as she had been wont to do in meetings, until her 
strength failed ; and, as long as a word could be understood, it 
was glory — glory ! " One of the last sentences she uttered was, 
" My Saviour U7iveils his lovely face, and it will never be hid 
from me again." 

Such dying, after such living, vindicated the sincerity, if not 
the zeal, of these pious, but persecuted people. The earnestness 
of the religious sentiment is always sublime, even if it stops not 
always to regard conventional proprieties. 
29 



338 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" Our last Quarterly meeting on this circuit," says Mr. New- 
ell, " was full of interest. The people flocked in from all parts 
of it, — including eight towns, several of which had been taken 
in during the year. It was refreshing to hear the people declare 
what God had wrought for them and their neighbors. Parents 
had set up family worship, swearing had given place to pray- 
ing, and many children had been converted to God. The people 
were united and happy, and the glory of God was overspreading 
many parts of the circuit." 

Thomas Branch, and his evangelists on New London district, 
preached the word with great success. The membership of the 
district, as reported in the Minutes of the next year, is less than 
in the preceding returns ; but this is owing to the detachment of 
several large circuits from it, and their incorporation into adja- 
cent districts. Ebenezer Washburn travelled, the present year, 
the New London circuit, with Greenleaf R. Norris; they had 
trials, but were gladdened also with prosperity. Mr. Washburn 
says : " The circuit was large, and the plan that was given me 
contained twenty-eight regular appointments, including the cities 
of New London and Norwich. Its southern boundary was from 
Lyme, on the east bank of Connecticut river, to Westerly, in 
Rhode Island. The eastern bound was from Westerly, follow- 
ing the line which divides the States of Connecticut and Rhode 
Island, to Canterbury. The northern line extended from Can- 
terbury, through Windham and Hebron, to Glastenbury, down 
the Connecticut to Lyme. Thomas Branch was Presiding 
Elder. We found some radicalism on the circuit. Abner 
Wood, who had charge of it the previous year, obtained new 
light, as he said, to renounce all church discipline, except the 
New Testament, as man-made and anti-Christian. He renounced 
infant baptism and the Christian Sabbath. Mr. Ostrander imme- 
diately called him. before a committee of preachers, at Hebron, 
where he was suspended from all ministerial labors till the next 
annual Conference, and at the Conference he was expelled. The 
society at Windham was rent in sunder ; something like twenty 
members left the church. In Glastenbury the peace and har- 
mony of the society were disturbed for a season ; but I believe it 



INCIDENTS AND RESULTS. 339 

was finally settled without the act of excision from the church. 
On the rest of the circuit the faith of the brethren was but little 
shaken, unless it was their faith in Abner Wood. On this cir- 
cuit the Lord owned our labors, and gave us some seasons of 
revival in New London and Norwich ; and at Quaker Hill there 
were considerable additions to the church. A brother Know- 
land had moved from New London into the town of Colchester, 
where there were no Methodists. Himself, his wife and daugh- 
ter, were members at New London. He invited us to come and 
preach at his house. The first time I went there, the congrega- 
tion filled the house, notwithstanding they had been sedulously 
warned, by the Congregational preacher, to keep away. I gave 
out for my text, ' Wilt thou be made whole ? ' John 5 : 6. The 
Lord helped me to explain the moral depravity of fallen man, 
and then to point my hearers to ' the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world,' as the only physician who 
could make them whole, and then to show them that it depended 
on the will of the creature whether he would be made whole or 
not. There was much weeping in the congregation, and 1 trust 
the season will be remembered with joy in eternity. In two 
weeks, when Mr. Norris came there, he found a number of souls 
under powerful conviction, and two who had obtained justifying 
grace. That evening several found peace in believing, and a num- 
ber more were awakened. When I went there again, I formed a 
Class, and appointed Knowland leader ; and his wife and daugh- 
ter entered with him right into the work, and were very useful 
in comforting the mourners, and strengthening and confirming 
the young converts. By the good hand of our God upon us, we 
raised a good society in that place. The Rev. Mr. C. fought us 
all he could in his congregation, and from house to house; but 
he never met us face to face. He sent to Norwich to get the 
celebrated David Austin to come and curse us for him; but 
when he came, he blessed us all together, and sharply reproved 
Mr. C. for his opposition to a people whom God so signally owned 
and blessed. There was an old lady, living not far distant from 
Brother Knowland's, who was converted through the instrument- 
ality of the Rev. George Whitefield. She was turned of ninety 



340 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

years of age, and had a posterity of over one hundred and twenty. 
She had confidently prayed and believed, during several years, 
that she should live to see a revival of religion in Colchester. 
When this revival commenced, and she saw her grandchildren, 
great-grandchildren, and some of the fourth generation, coming 
around her to tell her what great things the Lord had done for 
them, she praised God aloud, said the promise of God was veri- 
fied, and she was now ready to depart ; and in the midst of the 
revival she died, triumphantly praising her covenant-keeping 
God. We met with but little opposition during this revival, 
except from the parochial priest ; and that was overruled rather 
to our advantage than otherwise." 

The denomination had prospered generally during the year. 
Its total membership was 144,599 ; its increase, 14,020. There 
were 516 Methodist preachers traversing the land. The aggre- 
gate membership of the New England Conference was 8325. 
There was an apparent decrease of 886; but this was owing to 
the fact that several large circuits, hitherto included in the New 
England Conference, were now reported in the returns of that 
of New York. Among these circuits were Granville, Mass., with 
nearly four hundred members; Litchfield, Ct., with more than 
four hundred ; Whittingham, Vt., with nearly three hundred and 
fifty, and Middletown, Ct., with about three hundred. The most 
accurate estimate we can make of the membership in New Eng- 
land at this time renders it at 12,945, which gives a gain on the 
returns of the preceding year of 1200. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1807-8. 

Asbury. — New York Conference. — Passage to Maine. — Waltham. — The New England 
Conference, -r- Characteristic Notes. — Finances. — Asbury en route. 

In April, 1807, Bishop Asbury was again urging his way, in. 
much weariness, towards New York. " Sick or well," he wrote, 
" I have my daily labors to perform. I am hindered from that 
solitary, close, meditative communion with God, I wish to enjoy. 
I move under great debility." 

Yet the triumphant success of the cause for which he sacri- 
ficed himself cheered him, as he pressed along. " I found," he 
says, as he approached New York, " old grandfather Budd wor- 
shipping, leaning upon the top of his staff, — halting, yet ivrest' 
li7ig like Jacob I Ah ! we remember when Israel was a child ; 
but now, how goodly are thy tents, oh Jacob, and thy tabernacles^ 
oh Israel .' " 

On Saturday, May 2nd, he arrived at Coeyman's Patent, 
near Albany, where the New York Conference commenced its 
session the same day. He gives us the following brief notes of 
this session, and his journey to Boston : " Sabbath, 3, I preached 
once more on the subject of the death of our dear departed 
Brother Whatcoat. Saturday, 9, we concluded our labors. 
The preachers took their stations with the simple-heartedness 
of little children. I find two thousand and one added within the 
bounds of this Conference ; eighteen preachers and three mis- 
sionaries. We had much labor, and great peace ; and although, 
from the badness of the weather, we came home every evening 
through damps and mud, I had more rest than I should have 
had, had we convened in a city. We had preaching every noon. 

''Vermont. — Tuesday, 12, brought us through Salem; we 
29^ 



342 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

dined, talked and prayed at Ruput's : possibly God may save the 
tavern-keeper. We lodged at Branch's ; here we also prayed, 
hut there was a tavern bar : we left, and came to Mr. Hireton's ; 
here the landlady wept and talked, but my faith for the poor 
woman was not strong. -We came to Carpenter's, at Chitten- 
den, and hearing that Z. Andrews' was a home for preachers, 
we turned aside to tarry for a night. Thursday, 14, we boldly 
engaged the Green Mountain, of which we had heard awful 
accounts. I match it with rude Clinch, or rough Alleghany. 
We found snow in the gap. A tree was lying across the path ; 
in leading the carriage over, it upset, but sustained little dam- 
age. Having dined at Pittsfield, we took fresh courage, and 
proceeded on. When we came to White's river, we were 
obliged to lead the horses as they dragged the carriage up the 
heights, over rocks, logs, and cavings-in of the earth ; arrived at 
the Narrows, we found that the bank had given way and slidden 
down. I proposed to work the carriage along over by hand, 
whilst Daniel Hitt ^ led the horses ; he preferred my leading 
them: so on we went; but I was weak, and not enough attentive, 
perhaps, and the mare ran me upon a rock ; up went the wheel, 
hanging balanced over a precipice of fifty feet, — rocks, trees 
and the river beneath us ; I felt lame, by the mare's treading on 
my foot. We unhitched the beast, and righted the carriage, after 
unloading the baggage, and so got over the danger and difficulty. 
But never in my life have I been in such apparent danger. O 
Lord, thou hast saved man and beast ! We gladly stopped in 
Royal-Town, at Brother Ayres'. I have been happy under great 
temptations and hard labor. In every house, tavern and private, 
Ihave prayed and talked ; this is part of my mission. I have 
two hundred miles before me for the next week, — and can I 
accomplish this labor ? What is impossible with me, is possible 
with God. Friday, 15, we came to Cox's, and next day I 
preached at Bernard, and had an open season. I ordained five 
Deacons, namely, Carpenter, Currier, Peck, Sterling and Per- 
kins. On the Sabbath day I preached in the woods ; my text 
was 1 Tim. 2 : 15. It hailed, and in the afternoon snowed. 

* Rev. D. Hltt was his travelling companion this year. 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1S07-8. 343 

We had three discourses, in and out of the house, and held a 
Love Feast. The work revives in this town." 

Notwithstanding these labors, he travelled forty miles the next 
day; and on Sunday, 9, he writes: "We crossed the mountains, 
and came into New Hampshire at Andover, and continued on, 
dining and praying at Salisbury, to Concord, forty miles. On 
Thursday, we kept on through Kennebunk, Saco and Scarboro', 
into Portland. I was unwell, — had travelled hard, rising at four 
o'clock every morning; yet I had to preach here at eight o'clock 
in the evening. God is here : Brother Bachelor's labors have 
been blest. I lodged with Major Ilsley, still our great friend. 
Saturday, 22, we lodged with Mr. Dearborn, in Monmouth. We 
count on having made two hundred and thirty miles this week, 
over hard roads in many senses. My work is for God — my 
reward from him. May I be made perfect, through Christian 
and ministerial trials and sufferings ! " 

On Sunday, 23, he preached at Monmouth, Me. " On Tues- 
day," he says, " I preached at Scarboro', at five o'clock in the 
evening, upon Heb. 3 : 12 — 14. We sent forward the preachers 
to call a meeting in the town of Berwick, in the District of 
Maine. On Wednesday I preached to them, and the people 
were attentive. This is the beginning of Methodism in this 
place." 

On Saturday, he reached the mansion of Bemis, at Waltham. 
Several preachers were there, on their route to the Boston Con- 
ference. He preached to them on Sunday. " My Bible," he 
writes, " and plans for Conference stations, occupied my mind, 
and became the devotions of the day." 

On Monday, June 1st, he entered Boston, and opened, the 
next day, the session of the New England Conference. There 
were, he says, ninety-two preachers on the list. Besides pro- 
bationers, there were present fifty-one Elders and Deacons, 
among whom were Pickering, Brodhead, Sabin, Soule, Beale, 
Hedding, Merwin, Webb, Kibby, Washburn, Munger, Ruter, 
Kent, Bates, Martin, Hillman and Branch. The latter served 
as secretary. The Conference sat till Saturday morning, and 
despatched a large amount of business. It adopted a vote that 



344 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

no member should absent himself from the sessions, without 
express permission, under penalty of a fine. " It kept us 
busy," says Asbury, " to preach five times a day, ordain fifty- 
nine to office, and inquire and examine into characters, graces 
and gifts, and appoint the numerous stations. I preached on 
Wednesday, and an ordination sermon on Thursday. And 
must I walk through the seven Conferences, and travel six 
thousand miles, in ten months ? '' 

The notes of the examination of character show the con- 
tinued caution and frankness of the Conference. While some 
of the candidates are credited with their full claims to excel- 
lence, others are explicitly charged with their uncorrected 
defects. Some are pronounced "faithful, useful;-' "good dis- 
ciplinarians;" "very acceptable among the people, much 
admired;" "pious, established in doctrine and discipline;" 
"gifted, unspotted in character," &c. Others are reported as 
" stable amidst storms, but as rather favoring needless orna- 
ments;" "not fond of discipline;" "too much disposed to 
preach about the millennium;" "zealous, eccentric;" "accepta- 
ble, unsteady ;" "hypochondriacal, pious;" "of small abilities, 
pious, quite singular;" "not profitable, singular, absent in 
mind;" "married prematurely." These characteristic notes 
are not without relevancy in our narrative. It must be remem- 
bered that they were appended to the names of candidates only. 
Several of the present cases were discontinued. Eleven young 
men were admitted on trial, among whom were Joseph A. Mer- 
rill, Ebenezer Blake and Charles Virgin. The usual financial 
table is not given ; we learn from Asbury, however, that after 
paying $824.50 on the deficiency, the Conference was nearly 
S3000 insolvent. Of the sum paid, $180 was received from 
the Chartered Fund ; $300 from the Book Concern ; $300, the 
Book Concern dividend of the Baltimore Conference, a gift from 
that body ; and a further donation from, it of $44.50. A vote 
of thanks for its liberality was adopted. 

On Saturday, Asbury refreshed them by reading letters from 
Delaware and Virginia, giving accounts of remarkable revivals 
in those sections of the church. The business of the session 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1807-8. 345 

was then concluded, and " an hour or two was spent in convers- 
ing on the state of the Lord's work among the people under our 
charge, and our own souls," says the secretary. Asbury read 
the appointments, and these self-sacrificing men were, the same 
day, pursuing their way on horseback, — some in groups, some 
alone, — to their scattered posts of labor. 

Asbury immediately departed for "the pleasant town of 
Lynn," where he preached on the Sabbath. On Monday he 
shook hands with his Waltham friends, but was en route the 
same day. On Tuesday, he reached Wilbraham, " in spite of 
heat and lameness." " I am in peace," he writes ; " I dare not 
murmur, though in pain." On Tuesday, 12th, he was on Pitts- 
field circuit. " Methodism," he writes, " prevails in this quar- 
ter ; in two societies two hundred members have been added." 
On Saturday, by " a great ride of forty miles," he entered the 
State of New York, " faint, sick and lame. My feet are much 
swelled, and I am on crutches ; but I have been supported among 
strangers." Thus he pressed on his course over the continent, 
aged and debilitated, but advancing daily ; preaching contin- 
ually, in barns and private houses more than in chapels, and 
rejoicing at the triumphs of the truth. "What hath God 
wrought in America ! " he exclaims, soon after leaving New 
England. " In thirty-six years we find one hundred and forty-four 
thousand five hundred and ninety in number. In England, 
after seventy-seven years, they count one hundred and fifty 
thousand nine hundred and seventy-four : they may have thirty 
millions of souls in the three kingdoms to labor amongst ; and 
we, not more, perhaps, than five millions. Our travelling 
preachers, five hundred and thirty-six, at present; the rest, local 
and official, about fourteen hundred; but all these are poor men, 
and unlearned, — without books, money or influence. Not 
unto us, not unto us ! — oh Lord, take thou the glory ! " 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

PREACHERS, 1807-1808. 

Appointments. — Charles Virgin. — Early Religious Experience. — Entrance into the Minis- 
try. — Trials. — Anecdotes. — Appointments. — Lewis Pease. — Early Struggles. — La- 
bors. — Death. — Joseph A. Merrill. — Appointments. — Character. — Ebenezer Blake. — 
Early Life. — True Glidden. — Quarterly Meeting. — Incidents. — Appointments. 

The New England Conference of 1807 made ihe following 
appointments : 

Boston District. John Brodhead, Presiding Elder. Boston, 
George Pickering, Daniel Webb ; Lynn, Nehemiah Coye ; Mar- 
llehead, Philip Munger ; Salisbury and Salem, Joseph S. Mer- 
rill ; Harwich, Joel Steele ; Scituate and Sandwich, Thomas 
Asbury, Nathaniel W. Stearns; Gloucester and Manchester. 
Reuben Hubbard ; Popliii, Epping, and Sandown, William 
Stevens; Nantucket, Alfred Metcalf; New Bedford, Epaphras 
Kibby ; Newport, Samuel Merwin ; Warren and Bristol, Joseph 
Snelling; Rhode Island and Somerset, Joshua Crowell ; Norton, 
Mansfield, and Easton, Thomas Perry ; Portsmouth and Not- 
tirigham, Martin Ruter. 

New London District. Elijah R. Sabin, Presiding Elder. 
Pomfret, Ebenezer Washburn ; Tolland, HoUis Sampson, G. 
R. Norris ; Ashburnham, Asa Kent, Joseph Smith ; Needham, 
Benjamin Hill, Isaac Scarrett ; Providence, John Tinkham ; 
East Greenwich, Pliny Brett ; New London, Dan Perry, Theoph- 
ilus Smith. 

Vermont District. Thomas Branch, Presiding Elder. 
Athens, Caleb Dustin ; Wethersfield, Clement Parker, Joseph 
Fairbank ; Barnard and Rochester, Erastus Otis, Solomon 
Sias ; Vershire, Benjamin F. Lambord ; Barre, Samuel Thomp- 
son, Eleazar Wells ; Danville, Luther Chamberlain ; Stan^tead, 
Levi Walker. 



PREACHERS, 1807-8. 347' 

New Hampshire District. Elijah Hedding, Presiding El- 
der. Grantham, Warren Bannister, Charles Virgin ; Hanover, 
Dan Young ; Bridgewater, Joseph Farrar ; Pembroke, Hezekiah 
Field ; Tuftonboro\ Joseph Peck, Ebenezer Blake ; Northfield, 
Zachariah Gibson ; Centre Harbor, Paul Dustin ; Landaff, Dyev 
Burge ; Lunenburg, John Green. 

Portland District. Oliver Beale, Presiding Elder. Boiv- 
doinham, John Wilkinson ; Portland, Joel Winch ; Durham, 
David Can ; Scarboro\ Lewis Bates ; Falmouth, Samuel Hill- 
man, John Patton ; Poland, Jonathan Chaney, Enoch Jaques ; 
Bethel, Allen H. Cobb; Livermore, Aaron Humphrey, Eli 
Howe ; Conway, William Hunt. 

Kennebec District. Joshua Soule, Presiding Elder. Read- 
field, David Bachelor, Henry Martin ; Norridgewock, Ebenezer 
Fairbank ; Hallowell, Caleb Fogg ; Vassalbord' , Joseph Baker ; 
Bristol, James Young ; Union River, Daniel Bicker ; Union, 
Samuel Baker ; Orrington, Philip Ayer ; Hampden, David 
Stimson ; Vermont and New Hampshire, Thomas Skeel, Mis- 
sionary ; District of Maine, John Williamson, Missionary. 

Besides these, there were, under the jurisdiction of the New 
York Conference, 

AsHGRovE District. William Anson, Presiding Elder. 
Cambridge, Daniel Brumley and Francis Brown; Vergennes, 
Dexter Bates ; Grand Isle, Nathaniel Gage ; Brandon, George 
Powers and Lewis Pease ; Dunham, Gershom Pease ; Fletcher, 
Phineas Cook and Stephen Scornborger. 

Rhinebeck District. Peter Moriarty, Presiding Elder. 
Granville, Nathan Emery and Phineas Viel ; Litchfield, Aaron 
Hunt and Jonathan Lyon ; Whittingham, Andrew McKain and 
Major Curtis ; Pittsfield, Noble W. Thomas and Eben Smith ; 
Buckland, Laban Clark. 

Also, on the New York district, under the Presiding Elder- 
ship of Joseph Crawford, were. Redding, James M. Smith and 
Zalmon Lyon; and Middletown, William Thatcher, R. Harris, 
and 0. Sykes. 

According to this list, there were in New England eight dis- 
tricts (including Ashgrove and Rhinebeck) and part of a ninth, 



348 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

sixty-nine circuits, and two missions at large ; and one hundred 
and four preachers, exclusive of the Presiding Elder of New- 
York district, which comprised a large part of Connecticut. 
There was a gain oijive circuits and seven preachers. 

Charles Virgin joined the Itinerant ranks the present year. 
He was born in Hopkinton, N. H., May 8th, 1787. His parents 
trained him in the rigid Puritan education of the times. In 
1800 they removed to Maine. In the fall of that year death 
entered the family, and Joseph Baker, who was then travelling 
Bethel circuit, was called to perform the funeral services. The 
Methodist Itinerants scattered the good seed everywhere, in con- 
versation as well as from the pulpit, on the tilled ground or by 
the road-side. As Mr. Baker, already on his horse, was leaving 
the family, he called young Virgin to him very affectionately, 
and said, — " ' My young friend, do you ever think of dying ? ' 
— I answered that I did," writes Mr. Virgin. — " ' Well,' said he, 
* remember that you are a sinner, born to die ; and you must pray 
God to forgive your sins, and prepare you for death.' These 
few words entered my inmost soul. Sleeping or waking, at home 
or abroad, at work or recreation, they were constantly sounding 
in my ears. ' You are a sinner, and you must remember it.' 
Well, thought I, my parents always taught me that I was a 
sinner; but everybody is a sinner. This I was taught by my 
parents, and the minister I used to hear in Concord, and by the 
Assembly's Catechism, which the children had to learn in the 
schools. From my earliest remembrance I was afraid of death, 
yet supposed we could not be Christians until we got to be 
old; and at that time I had not seen any one under the age 
of thirty or forty years who was a Christian. I had none to 
open my mind to ; I read the Bible, but it only served to heighten 
my distress. I was guilty and condemned, and I strove hard to 
live better ; but all the time I was afraid to go to my heavenly 
Father with such a load of guilt. In the midst of my distress, 
my dear parents experienced religion, and set up the family 
altar, and began to care for their children more than ever before. 
But the enemy suggested that they were old enough to have 
religion ; — you are too young ; there is time enough for you to be 



349 

good when you are older; and Calvinist ministers preached 
that it was vain for persons to pray until they were good, or con- 
verted. In this distressed condition, I continued to weep and 
mourn until February, all the time resolving to pray as soon as I 
was good enough. Early in February my parents left home for 
an evening lecture, three miles distant. I, being the oldest child, 
was left with the others. As soon as possible, I put them to 
bed, and got them to sleep, lest they should be frightened to 
be left alone, as there was but one house within a mile, and the 
next was over two miles distant. As soon as they were sound 
in sleep, I left the house, with all possible stillness, about eight 
o'clock in the evening, and retired to the field, trembling and 
weeping as I went. My sins pressed me to the earth ; I knew 
not what I could say. But when I was at a convenient distance 
from the house, I fell on my knees before the throne of grace, 
confessed my sins, and prayed God, for Christ's sake, to have 
mercy on my soul. I resolved for God to live and die ; and if 
I perished, I would perish at the feet of mercy. I continued 
some time on my knees ; and though the cold was severe, the 
distress of mind was so great that I was lost to everything 
but the salvation of my soul. While on my knees my distress 
and anguish mysteriously left me ; and when I arose, I said to 
myself, ' What is this ? I am relieved, I am blessed, I am happy.' 
All around, above, and beneath, conspired to praise God ; and I 
went to the house feeling resolved to glorify God while I should 
live. This was in February, 1801 , and for two years and a half 
I continued to enjoy a sense of the pardoning mercy of God." ^ 
He heard preaching but once in three weeks on the remote 
Bethel circuit, and was not taken immediately under the watch- 
care of the church, "as I ought to have been," he writes, "and, 
with the least encouragement, should have rejoiced to have 
been." Under these circumstances, he gradually declined, in 
the course of two or three years, from his spiritual watchfulness, 
and, though he never totally lost his interest in religion, he lost 
its vitality and enjoyment. The death of a beloved sister was 
instrumental in reclaiming him. " The evening after the 

* Letter to the author. 

30 



350 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

funeral, I fell," he writes, " on my knees with inexpressible 
anguish, for my neglects of duty. All I dared to say was, * God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! ' I slept none that night. At the 
next meeting I arose before the whole assembly, and made known, 
with streaming eyes, my past experience and declension, and 
my resolution to return fully to my gracious Redeemer." He 
continued in deep anxiety till December 1st, when, in the jniblic 
congregation, the peaceful " witness of the Spirit " was restored 
to him. It was an era in his life. " In an instant," he says, 
" my burden was gone, and I felt that God, for Christ's sake, did 
restore to me the joy of his salvation. By grace, through faith, 
I was justified and accepted of God. I wept, and all present 
wept ; and the power of the Highest filled the place in which we 
were assembled — a daylong to be remembered by many. I 
went on my way rejoicing, endeavoring to discharge every duty 
in the fear of God." 

He now joined the church, and pursued his pilgrimage with 
success and comfort. We pass over an interval in his subse- 
quent course, and come to the period of his entrance into the 
ministry. No slight inward struggles, and no little discourage- 
ment from without, attended this important crisis of his history. 
"I felt it," he says, " to be my duty to call sinners to flee the 
wrath to come. The impression was very vivid and strong, and 
the inward voice was very distinct; the place, and the 
exact time, with all its connected circumstances, are still fresh 
in my recollection. When I yielded to this impression, my 
peace flowed evenly on ; but the moment I began to reason, or 
excuse myself, my enjoyments were invariably interrupted. 
After a while I ventured to open my mind to our preacher ; but 
he plainly told me that all persons who experienced religion 
had such impressions, and that many old women thought that 
they were called to preach ; and advised me to banish such 
thoughts from my mind. But, although I got no help from my 
pastor, I was kept from feeling any hardness towards him. The 
inward conflicts that followed, no pen can describe. It was of the 
Lord's mercies that I did not faint, for the enemy now came in 
like a flood, saying that all my inward impressions were a decep- 



PREACHERS, 1807-8. 351 

tion, both about preaching and religion ; and had it not been the 
case that I enjoyed an abiding witness of the Holy Spirit that 
I was a child of God, I should have sunk in deep waters. I 
resolved, through grace, to commit my case to God. In earnest 
prayer and weekly fasting, I did so, to my great comfort ; and 
the Lord confirmed me in the belief that it was my duty to warn 
sinners of their danger. After a number of weeks, I set out to 
go round the circuit with the preacher, and improve my 
gift the best way that I could. But, after passing one Sabbath 
with him, he told me I had better go home, and banish from my 
mind all such thoughts, for I w^as certainly deceived. O ! what 
an opportunity my dear pastor had of giving direction to a mind 
sincerely desirous to know the will of God! And what a 
scene of conflicts, for a year or more, it might have saved me 
from ! But my heavenly Father was preparing me to deal with 
persons under similar exercises, and to advise and comfort them 
in their conflicts. Numbers of whom I now think, who are 
burning and shining lights in the world. I have, in my feeble 
way, endeavored to sympathize with, and to bear with their 
weaknesses, and to help them forward in the work of the Lord." 
These extracts are impressively suggestive. How nearly did 
the church, in this instance, lose one of its most faithful laborers 
and most unblemished and honored veterans ! The next circuit 
preacher appreciated better the struggle which was agitating the 
mind of the youthful disciple. He was a man of like experience, 
and, on hearing young Virgin's story, related, with reciprocal 
sympathy, his own, and, exhorting him to be of good courage in 
the Lord, took him out with him on the circuit. His fetters 
were broken ; he had " encouragement and success in preaching ;" 
he returned home to earn money for his equipment with horse and 
saddle-bags, and then took the field, where for thirty-three years 
he continued as worthy and devoted a laborer as our annals 
record. He was first sent by the Presiding Elder, Oliver Beale, 
to Durham circuit, where he had the invaluable counsels and 
sympathies of Timothy Merritt, who was located at the time 
within its limits. In 1807 he was received on trial by the New 
England Conference, and sent to New Grantham circuit, N. H.; 



352 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

but in a few weeks Elijah Hedding, his Presiding Elder, directed 
him to take charge of Lunenburg circuit, which lay in the upper 
part of Vermont, and reached into Canada. " It was distant," 
he writes, " more than a hundred miles, and I was an utter 
stranger in the country. The preacher who had been appointed 
there was sick. The conflict of my spirit, for a while, was 
indescribable; but I had put my hand to the plough, and dared 
not look back. To take charge of a circuit, I could not think of 
but with great trembling. I had just performed a journey of 
one hundred and eighty miles, and my funds were nearly out." 

He had but one dollar, and this was all immediately spent in 
getting his horse shoed. " I had promised," he continues, " to put 
up that night at Deacon Sanborn's, of precious memory, in Unity. 
It was a sleepless night. I prayed and wept, and wept and prayed, 
until the dawn of day. After breakfast and family prayer, I 
mounted my horse to go. In the family were three children, holy 

members of the M, E. church, by the names of I— — , D and 

N , — one son and two daughters. They stood upon the door- 
steps. As I came to the first, who was the son, and took my 
leave of him, he put a silver dollar into my hand. I next came to 

D , she put another into my hand ; and N , she gave me 

the third. I was too much affected to speak. I turned away 
and got out of hearing as soon as possible, and then wept pro- 
fusely, and, praying to God to forgive me, resolved never again 
to distrust my Heavenly Father." 

In 1808, he was appointed to Stanstead circuit, which was 
mostly in Canada, but extended into Vermont. " It was," he says, 
" at that time, called by some the college of the New England 
Conference. It was on Vermont district, of which Thomas 
Branch was Presiding Elder, — a holy man, a good preacher, 
always exact in redeeming time, — one of the best Presiding 
Elders I was ever favored with. His history ought to be pre- 
served. I set out for my circuit with a heavy heart, — crossed the 
Thirty Mile Woods, where there was no house for over thirty 
rniles, — came very near losing my horse, by getting mired, — 
fed him on the ' Lord's meadow', — ate my dinner under the 
shadow of a large rock, from my saddle-bags, about midway 



353 

of my journey, — knelt down, and prayed earnestly to God to 
accompany me on my course, and then went on my way rejoic- 
ing. The first house I came to belonged to a Methodist family, 
who made me welcome to their hospitalities. I arrived the next 
day at Brother Eix's, the head-quarters of the circuit in Stan- 
stead, Lower Canada. It was a three- weeks' circuit, — bad roads 
long rides, and hard fare. The people had very warm hearts and 
willing minds, but they were poor; and it was a luxury to 
labor and suffer among them. There were deep snows, and 
extreme cold. I froze myself three times that winter, and suf- 
fered greatly. My clothes were nearly worn out, being mostly 
what my dear mother made with her own hands, and fitted 
me out with, when I left home for Durham circuit." 

Such was the beginning of his Itinerant career. The remainder 
of his ministerial life was full of incidents of adventure and suc- 
cess ; but we must pass over them. His subsequent appointments 
were, in 1809, Livermore, Me.; 1810, Conway, N. H.; 1811, 
New Grantham, N. H. ; 1812, Kennebec district. Me. ; 1813, 
Boston district, which he superintended four years ; it extended 
from " Portsmouth, N. H., to Sandown and New Salem cir- 
cuit; thence into Massachusetts to Mansfield, Easton, New 
Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, all Cape Cod, and 
back to Boston and Portsmouth." In 1818, on account of 
his prostrated health, he was left, at his own request, without 
an appointment. In 1819, he was sent to Portland, Me. ; 1820 
and 1821, Bath, Me. ; 1822, Hallowell, Me., on which circuit 
two hundred persons were converted during the year. The next 
year he was returned superannuated ; but, in 1824 and 1825, he 
was appointed to Easton and Stoughton, Mass. ; 1826, Somerset 
and Fall River, Mass.; 1827, Bristol, R. I.; 1828 and 1829, 
Milford and Hopkinton, Mass. ; 1830, Southbridge,Mass.; 1831, 
East Greenwich, R. I.; 1832 and 1833, Thompson and Eastford, 
Conn. ; 1834, Needham, Mass. ; 1835, Marlboro' and Harvard, 
Mass.; 1836 and 1837, Lunenburg, Mass. ; 1838, Ludlow, Mass. ; 
1839, South Wilbraham, Monson, and Wales, Mass. Such is 
the list of his appointments ; it speaks significantly of his labors 
and travels in the cause of his Divine Master. At the last sta- 
30^ 



354 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

tion, he was attacked with pulmonary disease, which has since 
disabled him from public labors. He now lingers at Wilbraham, 
in patient suffering-, and comfortable hope of entering into the rest 
whither most of his early Itinerant associates have gone. " I 
owe my all," he says, " under God, to the Methodist church. I 
have always loved its doctrines and discipline. Out of ten who 
were received at Boston, 1807, only three of us have lived to 
these days. Last year Brother J. A Merrill left us. Brother 
E. Blake and my poor self still linger on the shores of time. I 
have enjoyed the direct witness of the Spirit ever since I united 
with the M. E. church. I never have had a difficulty with any of 
my brethren the preachers. I have endeavored to love God with 
all my heart, and my neighbor as myself, for many years ; and I 
have no purpose but to find my way to heaven. I have, in 
thirty years of hard labor, seen a great number converted to 
God, and happily joined to the church. I have lived to see the 
church grow powerful. Willingly would I labor and suffer still 
in the ranks with my dear brethren, if I was able." 

Mr. Virgin is in person tall and erect; his countenance is 
expressive of repose and benevolence, and his head is hoary with 
age and affliction. He has been distinguished by devotion to 
his ministerial duties, by usefulness, the sympathetic kindliness 
of his disposition, and the unspotted purity of his long public 
life. 

Lewis Pease was one of the notable men of our primitive 
ministry. He was born in Canaan, N. Y., August 7th, 1786, 
and was early the subject of religious impressions ; but, like 
many others whose lives we have sketched, he suffered greatly 
from the theological errors of his religious education. He 
feared that he was reprobated by the fore-ordination of God ; 
and so intense became his anguish, that he was strongly tempted 
to commit suicide. The awakened mind thus seizes with avidity 
on every means of self-condemnation and despondence ; but God 
will not despise the broken and contrite heart. The very 
anxiety of such a mind is proof of the saving influence of the 
Holy Spirit. The Methodist Itinerants brought to the young 
penitent the proclamation, that " the Spirit and the bride say 



355 

come ; and let him that heareth say come ; and let him that is 
athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." In a prayer-meeting, the date of which he remembered 
with a grateful heart (30th of January, 1805), his captive spirit 
w^as liberated, and " soon after, in the town of Cornwall, his 
doubts and fears were entirely removed, and he obtained a clear 
witness of his acceptance with God.""^ 

His new experience was quickly tested on a bed of dangerous 
sickness ; but he triumphed over the fear of death, and " desired 
to depart and be with Christ." During this interval of affliction, 
he first received the impression that it was his duty to preach 
the Gospel. He was raised up and made a witness for Christ, 
through nearly forty years. He was licensed as a local preacher 
in 1S06, and the next year was received as a probationer at the 
New York Conference, and appointed to Brandon circuit, Vt. 
In 1808 he travelled Cambridge circuit, N. Y., and at the close 
of the year was admitted to Deacon's orders. In 1809 he 
travelled Buckland, Mass., and in 1810, Pownall circuit, Vt. 
In 1811 he was ordained Elder, and appointed to the city of 
Albany. In 1812 and 1813 he was stationed in Brooklyn, L. I. ; 
but in June of the latter year his health failed. He sufTered 
from bleeding at the lungs, which continued almost daily for 
fifteen months. In 1814 and 1815 he received a superannuated 
relation. In 1816 he was appointed to Pittsfield circuit, Mass. ; 
but, after travelling two or three months, his health again failed ; 
and in 1817 and 1818 he was superannuated. In 1819 and 1820 
he was appointed to Otis, Mass. In 1821 and 1822 he was again 
stationed in Brooklyn, where his labors were abundantly blessed. 
A revival of religion commenced in August of the first year, and 
continued till the close of the last ; and two hundred souls were 
added to the church. In 1823 and 1824 he was stationed in 
Hartford, Conn., and in 1825 and 1826, at the Union church, 
Philadelphia. In 1827 and 1828 he was appointed to Cham- 
plain district, N. Y. At the close of the first year, he attended 
the General Conference at Pittsburg; and the next March, he 
was again attacked with bleeding at the lungs, and obliged to 

* Minutes, 1843-4. 



356 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

retire from his district. In 1829 he received a supernumerary 
relation, and was attached to Lee and Lenox circuit, Mass. ; and 
in 1830 and 1831 he was stationed in the city of New York. 
His health becoming more feeble, he took a supernumerary rela- 
tion in 1832, which was continued in 1833, 1834 and 1835. In 
September, 1835, he commenced his labors as chaplain to the New 
York city hospital, and continued in that institution the ensuing 
year. In 1837, 1838, 1839 and 1840, he was appointed super- 
numerary to Richmond, N. Y. In 1841, 1842, and 1843, he 
was superannuated, and continued to reside in Richmond. He 
was not idle during these years of infirmity and decline, but 
labored in the cause of God as much as his health would allow. 
Thus did this devoted man labor in the vineyard of his Lord, 
though oppressed with infirmities which would, to most men, 
have been a sufficient excuse for retirement and repose. In 
1843 he was called to supply the place of a disabled preacher 
at Troy, N. Y. He preached there with remarkable power and 
effect. An extensive revival followed, and more than two 
hundred souls were added to the church in a few months. " But 
those were the last labors of his life, and the last trophies he was 
to win for Christ." His infirmities increased, and he was com- 
pelled to retreat to his home, and to " put his house in order ; " 
for the time of his departure was at hand. " His principal dis- 
ease was scrofula, seated upon the lungs, stomach and other 
internal organs, which were greatly impaired, or almost de- 
stroyed, by ulcers. Months of pain were meted out to him. 
His sufferings were great, — almost beyond human endur- 
ance ; but he was wonderfully supported by the power of 
Divine grace. The good Shepherd was near to attend him 
through the valley of the shadow of death ; and on the borders 
of the grave, he was happy in prayer, and in singing praises to 
God. A friend was charged to bring this message from his 
dying lips : ' Tell the Conference that I died in the full faith of 
the Gospel, as taught by the Methodists ; — yes ! tell the bishops, 
the elders and the preachers, I love them, and I love the disci- 
pline, and all the ordinances and articles of faith it contains ; — 
yes ! tell them I die in peace with all the members.' When his 



357 

speech had failed, he gave his weeping wife a silent token that 
all was well. Soon after, he fell asleep in Jesus, without a 
motion or a struggle, on the 5th of September, in the fifty-eighth 
year of his age." 

Lewis Pease was much beloved and venerated among his 
brethren. He applied himself to his studies, and was a work- 
man that needed not to be ashamed. His manner, in the pulpit, 
was simple, but solemn and powerful, and often pathetic. He 
was always acceptable. " By his labors," say his ministerial 
brethren, " many souls were converted to God, who will rise up 
in the great day, and call him blessed." 

Joseph A. Merrill was born in Newbury, Mass., Nov. 22, 
1785. He was converted to God when about nineteen years of 
age. Being subsequently licensed as a local preacher, he was 
sent by Elijah R. Sabin to St. Francis' river. Lower Canada, 
where he had a thorough trial of the hardships of the Methodist 
Itinerancy. At the session of the New England Conference for 
the present year, he was received into the travelling connection, 
and appointed to Salisbury and Salem, Mass, Of his subsequent 
appointments the obituary of the New England Conference 
gives the following outline : " The next year he was appointed 
to Scituate, Mass., and there his labors were blessed with a pow- 
erful revival of the work of God. He was then stationed suc- 
cessively for two years at Harwich, one at Wellfleet, and one at 
Falmouth, on Cape Cod, in each of which places he labored 
with much success in bringing souls to Christ ; and several yet 
linger in those places as pillars in the church, who were con- 
verted through his instrumentality. For the next two years, 
1813-14, he was stationed, with Rev. George Pickering, in Bos- 
ton, where, in addition to the labors of his regular charge, he 
acted as chaplain to a regiment of soldiers then stationed in that 
city; and in the multiplicity of his labors and anxieties, his phys- 
ical strength was exhausted, and he, with his faithful compan- 
ion, seemed to be near the grave ; but God, in mercy, raised 
them up, and he continued his labors. During the next four 
years he was Presiding Elder of Vermont district, where his 
labors were incessant, arduous and efficient. In 1819 he acted 



358 P/IEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

in the twofold capacity of agent for the Wesleyan Academy at 
Newmarket, and the first missionary of the first Missionary 
Society in our church, which was formed by the Lynn Common 
church. His field of missionary labor was in the north of New 
Hampshire. As agent for the academy, he was eminently suc- 
cessful. During the next two years he was stationed at New- 
market, and for the succeeding four years was Presiding Elder 
of the New London district. These were years of great pros- 
perity in that field of labor. In connection with others, about 
this time, he succeeded in the removal of the Wesleyan Semi- 
nary from Newmarket to Wilbraham, where its prospects for 
success were far more favorable. The next two years, 1826-7, 
he labored in Boston, and the two following, on the Wood End 
station, in Lynn, In these appointments he labored with great 
success and acceptance. From 1830 to 1833, he was Presiding 
Elder of the Providence district, and in 1833 was agent for the 
Conference, and preached a part of the year in Worcester, 
Mass., being the first who preached our doctrines in that city. 
From 1834 to 1838 he was Presiding Elder of the Springfield 
district, and the two following years was stationed at Webster, 
and the succeeding year at Williamsburg. In the former part 
of the next year he labored at St. Paul's church, in Lowell, and 
in the latter part of the year he removed to Newton, Upper 
Falls, where his labors were blessed in the conversion of many 
souls. In 1843 he was stationed in Salem ; 1844-5, at East 
Boston; 1846-7, at East Cambridge. In 1848 he was 
appointed to Newburyport, amidst the scenes of his nativity and 
early ministry. On going to this place, he remarked, ' Here I 
commenced my labors as a minister ; and I know not but Provi- 
dence has sent me here to finish them.' And thus it was. 
Toward the close of the year his health rapidly declined, and 
medical skill seemed incompetent to arrest the progress of the 
disease. At the session of the Conference, of which he had 
been an active and efficient member for forty-two years, he once 
more appeared, but not as he was wont to appear. He was pale 
and emaciated. That hitherto strong and clear voice now trem- 
bled with weakness. When his name was called in the exam- 



PREACHERS, 1807-8. 359 

inations of Elders, he arose from his seat, and, while every eye 
was fixed upon his faded form, in deep and mournful interest, 
he, with emotions that can never be described, referred to his 
long and pleasant connection with his brethren, — his love, his 
increasing love for them, and for the work in which he, with 
them, had been engaged ; he pronounced upon them his bless- 
ing, and, while emotion choked his utterance, he threw himself 
into the hands of his brethren. He was returned in a superan- 
nuated relation, and retired to a little home his foresight and 
economy had provided, at Wilbraham. This was the first 
change in his relation to the Conference : he had always, by the 
blessing of God, been efficient, and this rendered the scene one 
of peculiar interest. But he had not long to remain in his 
earthly home. His health rapidly declined, till, on Sabbach 
morning, the 22d of July, 1849, he closed his eyes in death, and 
slept in Jesus." 

Mr. Merrill possessed more than ordinary abilities as a 
preacher, and was distinguished by his practical skill and rare 
sagacity in ecclesiastical affairs. He had talents which would 
have fitted him for the most critical diplomatic responsibilities. 

He was unwaveringly devoted to the great interests of the 
church, and exerted an important agency in the promotion of its 
educational plans. He was a trustee of the Wesleyan Academy 
of the New England Conference, and of the Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, from their origin till his death. He was a chief actor in 
the anti-slavery conflict of the church, and has identified his 
name with that important movement. When other and strong 
men, driven by the stress of public agitations, abandoned the 
church, he stood firm in his adhesion to its uncertain fortunes ; 
and lived to see the turbulence of the storm subside, and the 
principles he advocated generally established in the northern 
portion of the denomination. " He loved," say his brethren of 
the New England Conference, " the church and its institutions, 
his country and its government, the young, and especially the 
young in the ministry; he loved all, and labored through his 
active life for the good of all. In the domestic relations of life, 
he was peculiarly and deservedly endeared. His end was peace, 



360 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

— yea, it was more, it was triumph, — and he, though dead, yet 
speaketh." 

Ebenezer Blake commenced his ministerial travels the pres- 
ent year. He was born in Durham, Cumberland County, Maine, 
April 27, 1786. Living in a new and remote part of the coun- 
try, his opportunities of education, and his religious privileges, 
were very limited ; yet, " when quite young," he writes, " the 
Spirit of God often strove with me, and I felt that I ought to 
have religion, and sometimes tried to pray. I recall one 
instance, that occurred when I was about fourteen years of age. 
Death appeared very near to me : I supposed that I was dying, 
and an awful sense of my situation burst upon my mind ; I 
expected to be in hell in a few minutes. Were it in my power 
to describe the horror of mind I then felt, men would not 
wonder that I sometimes proclaim the terrors of the Lord. Not- 
withstanding this, I was a wild youth ; but, in my eighteenth 
year, I had the happiness to find the pearl of great price, through 
the instrumentality of the Methodists. Asa Heath was the first 
Methodist preacher that I ever heard ; and the first time that I 
heard him, the word reached my heart, and I deeply felt the 
importance of religion. James Lewis, a local preacher from 
Gorham, was the second preacher that I heard, — a powerful 
speaker, who still lives to bless the church. A young man by 
the name of True Glidden, I think, was the third that I had the 
opportunity to hear. Mr. Glidden travelled Bowdoinham cir- 
cuit, and had an appointment in Durham. Through the instru- 
mentality of these good men, with others, God was pleased to 
pour out his Spirit in a wonderful manner ; many souls were 
converted, and a good society was raised up. The powers of 
darkness raged, but the work of God went on. Glidden was one 
of the best young men that I ever knev/. I have often observed 
him when in prayer in the congregation, the tears rolling from 
his eyes and dropping from his face. He literally wore him- 
self out in less than three years, and descended to an early 
grave. He died of consumption, in the fall of 1806, and was 
buried in Chester, N. H., where not a stone remains to tell his 
resting-place. Thank God ! in that day when Christ shall come 



361 

to make up his jewels, True Glidden will be among them, and 
will shine with no ordinary lustre. After some time, my mind 
became deeply impressed with a sense of the lost condition of 
man. I used sometimes to try to speak a word for my master. 
The first time that I attempted to exhort was at a Quarterly 
Meeting in Hebron. Joshua Taylor had just closed a good 
warm sermon. I tried to speak a few words, and the Lord in 
mercy sent them home to the heart of a young man, who, soon 
after, found peace. My mind became deeply exercised about 
preaching. I resisted the impressions until I sunk into a gloomy 
state. I recollect the first Quarterly Meeting that I attended ; — 
it was held in a grove. Timothy Merritt stood in a cart and 
preached in the forenoon, from ' By whom shall Jacob arise, for 
he is small.' I never heard Merritt preach, but in one instance, 
as he did at that Quarterly Meeting. After he closed, D. Dud- 
ley exhorted, and J. Lewis prayed; the people fell to the ground, 
and there was a cry of prayer in every direction through the 
congregation. The preachers and brethren spent the afternoon 
in praying for mourners. Twenty or more were converted at 
that meeting. One woman said it was all the work of Satan, 
and she would stay no longer there ; she mounted her horse and 
rode a quarter of a mile, when she also was overpowered ; she 
fell from her horse to the road, as if dead. She was carried into 
a house, and when she could speak, they found that she was 
under conviction. They prayed for her, and she soon found the 
Lord." ^ 

Mr. Blake's interest was intensely kindled by the extraordi- 
nary scenes around him, and in the fall of 1806 he came to the 
conclusion that he could endure no longer the state of mind that he 
had been suffering. He gave himself to the work of the minis- 
try, and was sent by his Presiding Elder to Poland circuit, for a 
few weeks. He then travelled on Falmouth circuit through the 
winter, and in April, 1807, was admitted on trial into the New 
England Conference, and stationed on Tuftenboro' circuit, N. H. 
" The circuit was large," he writes ; " we had hard work, poor 
fare, but a glorious reformation. At Rochester, we formed a 

* Letter to the author. 

31 



362 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

new society, which has prospered until the present time. In six 
months we admitted into the societies one hundred and twenty- 
persons. I received less than thirty dollars for my support. I 
suffered greatly for the want of clothes, but was happy while I 
saw souls coming home to the Saviour." His subsequent 
appointments were Lunenburg circuit, N. H., Canaan, N. H., 
where seventy or more were converted; in 1810, Falmouth; 1811, 
Bethel; 1812, Durham; 1813, Scarboro', all in Maine. "The 
last," he writes, "was a year of blessed revivals ! " In Kennebunk- 
port we formed a society that has prospered, and is now a station 
of some importance in the Maine Conference." In 1814 and 1815 
he travelled Poplin circuit ; 1816, New London circuit, '• where 
we were favored," he writes, " with the most powerful revival, in 
the city of New London, that I ever witnessed. In a population 
of some three thousand, there were between four and five hundred 
hopefully converted. We had frequently quite a number con- 
verted in a meeting. The work was so powerful that persons 
at labor in theh' shops would become so distressed in mind as to 
send out for the brethren to come in and pray with them. There 
were a number converted under such circumstances." He after- 
wards spent two years on Pomfret, and two on Tolland cir- 
cuit, Ct. "On the latter," he writes, "we were favored with a 
revival in Wilbraham, in which twenty or thirty souls professed 
religion. In East Hartford or Manchester, we had a reforma- 
tion, in which one hundred and forty made a profession of reli- 
gion, and one hundred joined the Methodists." 

Mr. Blake's appointments have since been numerous, and in 
all parts of New England. He possesses robust health, and has 
therefore been able to labor mightily in the church. Many gra- 
cious revivals have attended his ministry, and hundreds in the 
church and in heaven owe their salvation to his instrumentality. 
After nearly forty years' ministerial travels, he still continues in 
the Itinerant field, laboring with staunch energy, and an ardent 
attachment to the cause for which he has endeavored and 
endured so much. "I have never," he says, "been confined to 
the house a week at a time, through the whole of my ministry, 
but in one instance, and then for eight or ten days. I still enjoy 



PREACHERS^ 1807-8. 363 

a tolerable state of health. It has been a great trial to me to 
see preachers raised up among us, and desert their work. I 
can safely say, that I have never seen the day that I would give 
up the situation of a Methodist preacher for any station in the 
gift of man." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

BESULTS. 

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont Districts. — Sanctification. — Ebenezer F. Newell. — 
Boston. — Bristol. — Newport. — Warren. — New London District. — Statistics. 

The Conference year of 1807-8 included but little more than 
ten months. It was attended, however, with appreciable results. 
The Itinerants in Maine, under the superintendency of Joshua 
Soule and Oliver Beale, prosecuted their ministerial work, and 
bore their privations courageously, and reported an increase of 
nearly three hundred members. Hedding guided the labors of 
eleven men on the New Hampshire district. They had some 
success, but severe trials, hard work, difficult travelling, small pay, 
and no little hostility from other sects, as well as from ungodly 
men. The Vermont district, under the superintendence of 
Thomas Branch, advanced in prosperity. The doctrine of entire 
sanctification was preached, with especial power, by that holy 
man, and many living witnesses of it were raised up. Solomon 
Sias, who was on Barnard and Rochester circuit, says : " There 
were many most excellent members on this circuit. Many pro- 
fessed to have experienced the blessing of sanctification, whose 
daily walk gave evidence to the fact that their profession was 
well grounded. I have often seen several at a time fall to the 
floor, under the power of God ; and frequently their counte- 
nances would seem to shine with the glory of God. The first 
Methodist meeting-house on the circuit was erected in Barnard, 
the present year." ^ 

Ebenezer F. Newell toiled and suffered on LandafF circuit, 
extending his excursions even into Canada ; but with no great 

* Letter to the author. 



RESULTS. 365 

success. He reported a numerical declension. Fatigued with 
labors, and burdened, yet hopeful, in spirit, the young evangelist 
wound his way through the " Notch " of the White Mountains, on 
his route to the approaching Conference. Weighty thoughts 
pressed upon his weary spirit, as he took leave of his laborious 
circuit, — thoughts with which the self-sacrificing evangelists of 
that day must often have consoled and strengthened their hearts. 
"God knoweth all things," he said to himself; "God knoweth 
all things, even the thoughts and intents of the heart, and will 
render to all their due. However much virtue and piety may 
be despised and trodden under foot by ignorance and pride here, 
and honor and crowns be assumed and worn undeserved in this 
world, the day is coming, — yea, is fast approaching, — when a 
never-fading crown of life shall adorn the brow of the saint in 
the everlasting kingdom of God, whilst vice, impiety, and hypoc- 
risy, shall sink, covered with shame and everlasting contempt." 

The Boston district, under Brodhead, enjoyed unusual prosper- 
ity, and Webb and Pickering labored in the metropolis, with 
special success. The former writes : " Pickering and I went to our 
work with one heart, and hand in hand. He was foremost in every 
good work, and I endeavored to follow on. We were cordially 
received, after a few weeks. The Lord blessed our labors, and 
many souls were brought to the knowledge of the truth, — consid- 
erably over one hundred, I believe. Our brethren in the minis- 
try, T. C. Pierce and J. W. Tucker, were converted this year. 
The church was in debt three or four hundred dollars towards 
the expenses of the last year. One of the stewards said to us, 
* If we are as well off at the close of this year as we are now, I 
think we shall do well.' Said Br. Pickering, ' If you are not 
out of debt at the close of the year, I think you will do badly.' 
By the blessing of God on the means that were used, the debt, 
and all the expenses of the current year, were paid ; and, as a 
society, at the conclusion of the year, they owed nothing." 

Snelling enjoyed continued success in Bristol, and Warren 
circuit, where, during two years, he had witnessed the advance- 
ment of the church. He extended his labors from Somerset to 
Newport. " The reformation " he writes, " still went on, and 
31^ 



366 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

many were anxiously inquiring what they should do to be saved. 
The congregations were large; sometimes, on Sabbath, more than 
a thousand people attended. In Bristol we had an excellent 
choir of singers; it was thought to be the best in Boston district. 
The greater part of them professed religion. The gifts in the 
church also were as great as in any place that I ever preached 
in. Several of our brethren were masters of vessels; these 
would exhort and pray and comment on the Scriptures, in a 
remarkable manner. During my labors in Bristol, the Lord 
added to the church a goodly number ; and I hope to meet them 
where they that sow and they that reap shall rejoice together. 
I preached also in Newport, R. I., when Methodism there was 
in its infancy. Captain Beal, who commanded Fort Adams 
and Fort Wolcott, was a member of the Methodist church. I 
frequently visited him at each fort, and found him to be an 
excellent man, with an amiable family. He used to have all 
his soldiers attend meeting on the Sabbath. They would march 
to meeting in regular order, dressed in uniform ; and when meet- 
ing was done, return in the same manner. There was a Metho- 
dist society in Warren, which was one of the oldest in the State 
of Rhode Island. There was a good meeting-house, which was 
generally well filled, and considerable attention was paid to 
religion. Several were baptized, and joined the church." 

New London district, under the Presiding Eldership of Elijah 
R. Sabin, was blessed with several local revivals, though no 
very large aggregate gain was reported. In Pomfret and Kil- 
lingly"the Lord gave us," says Washburn, "a good revival, 
from which were raised up two eminently useful preachers, 
George Gary, and Benjamin Sabine. The circuit was large — 
the Methodists few and mostly poor; but they were rich in faith, 
and loved the church." 

The returns of the New England Conference, at the end of 
the ecclesiastical year, amounted to 8825; there had been a 
gain of 500. Add the returns from the New England appoint- 
ments of the New York Conference, and the aggregate amounts 
to 13,830. The aggregate increase for the year was little short 
of 900. The total membership of the denomination, including 



RESULTS. 367 

Canada, was 151,995, and the total gain of the past year, 7405. 
The church, in all parts of the land, began to be self-conscious 
of its numerical force, of its great responsibilities, and the illim- 
itable destinies which were dawning upon it. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

EAELY METHODIST CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 

Lee's Visit to New London. — Second Visit. — Asbury's Visit. — Organization of the First 
Class. —Its Members.— The First New London Conference. —The First Chapel erected. 
— Second Conference. — Great Kevival. — Erection of the New Chapel. — Trials and 
Prosperity. — Secession. — Deliverance. — New Haven. — Lee's Visits. — Chapels. — 
Trials. — Success. — Thompson. — Early Methodist Preaching. — First Class. — Sarah 
Bugbee. — Conference. — First Chapel. — Lnprovements. — EUjali Nichols. 

We have recorded, in our former volume, the history of 
several early Methodist churches in Connecticut ; a few of the 
most important primitive localities of our cause in that state 
remain to be noticed. The church in New London is an 
example of the severe struggles and final success which so 
generally characterized our early societies in New England. 
Lee visited that city, for the first time, on the 2d of September, 
1789. He was hospitably entertained by Mr. Jonathan Brooks, 
"a very respectable citizen, and member of the Baptist church, 
whose catholic spirit led him to welcome the ministers of Christ, 
of different denominations, and to open his house for their 
ministrations." =^ This liberal-hearted gentleman immediately 
called a meeting for his guest, in the court-house, where the 
latter preached, at night, on the new birth, to a solemn and 
weeping audience. " Surely God is in this place," exclaimed 
the preacher ; " I felt as if I was among the faithful followers 
of the Lord Jesus." 

In June, of the following year, he again visited New London, 
and was received with undiminished cordiality. He preached 
several times, during this visit. 

In 1791 Asbury paused in the city, and preached in the court- 
house, from 2 Peter, 3 : 15 : ''And account that the long-suffer- 

* MS. Sermon on the History of the M. E. Church in New London, by Rev. Ralph 
W. Allen, — to which we are indebted for most of the materialeof this sketch. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 369 

ing of our Lord is salvation." " The New Light Baptists," he 
says, " were very kind ; " but he remarks that the religious 
interest of the preceding year was nearly extinct. 

Though a circuit bearing the name of New London was 
instituted " in the beginning of the year 1793," ^ yet a Metho- 
dist society was not organized in the city till October of that 
year. It was formed at the house of Mr. Richard Douglass, 
and consisted of eleven persons. We have met with a list of 
the members who joined it during the first year of its history ; 
they were, Richard Douglass, Ann Douglass, Nancy Douglass, 
Peter Griffin, Abigail Griffin, Gennet Hall, Anna Mace, Sally 
Lewis, Isaac Rogers, Mary Lewis, George Potter, Elizabeth 
Potter, Ann Smith, Mercy Smith, Freelove Miller, Luther 
Gale, Susanna Stockman, Abigail Potter, and Epaphras Kibby, 
— the latter now a venerable name in our ministry. Only one 
of this little band was expelled from the church ; nearly all of 
them have died in the Lord, and are now enjoying in heaven 
the company of the pioneer evangelists who were instrumental 
in their salvation. 

In 1794, David Abbot, Willson Lee, Zadoc Priest, and 
Enoch Mudge, travelled the circuit, and ministered, periodically, 
to the infant church in the city. Jesse Lee also visited them 
this year, and " put up with Brother Richard Douglass." On 
Sunday, September 14th, he preached twice. " The Lord," he 
wrote, "has dealt very kindly with the people in this city. 
There was a gracious revival of religion among them last spring, 
and the first of the summer. Ahovejifty have joined the Methx)- 
dists." The year 1795 was distinguished in the calendar of the 
young church by the session of the Conference in New London. 
A score of preachers (lacking one) assembled there. The good 
and great Asbury presided. No chapel had yet risen to accom- 
modate them ; but they met, full of hope and courage, in the 
house of Daniel Burrows. 

In 1798 the first Methodist chapel in New London was 
erected. Methodism did all its work with despatch, in those 
days. Everything was preliminary ; necessity, not convenience, 

* Lee's History of Methodism. Anno 1793, 



370 RIEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

was consulted. The ne\v church was raised on Monday, July 
16th, and dedicated, by Lee, on the following Sunday .=^ " His 
text was, ' This day is salvation come to this house.' " Asbury 
was present, and preached twice on the same day, " greatly 
assisted in mind and body." The building, at its dedication, 
was little more than the bare frame. It was soon covered and 
rudely furnished, though " for some years it remained in an 
unfinished state. But this humble, unadorned house became a 
palace to many souls. It was, indeed, the spiritual birth-place 
of hundreds. Many will recollect it, with delight, through 
eternity." t 

In 1808 New London was honored with another session of 
the Conference. It commenced on the 17th of April, and was 
attended (as usual in those days) by a remarkable revival of 
religion. It was about this time that Lee was passing through 
New England, revisiting the scenes of his former labors. He 
reached New London on the 7th of July, was received to the 
home of his old friend Richard Douglass, and stood up, the 
same night, amidst the multitude of mourners, proclaiming, 
" Weeping may endure for a night, hut joy cometh in the morn- 
ing. '^ A happy meeting was this to many of his old hearers, 
who expected to see him no more on earth. The congregation 
was crowded, and his word was attended with quickening 
power; three persons fell to the floor, and lay like dead men. 
His " soul was happy," and " many tears were shed." At five 
o'clock the next morning, he was again preaching the word, in 
the Methodist chapel. "I had a precious time," he writes; 
" the Lord was with us, of a truth. Many were affected, thank 
God ! " 

The year 1816 was distinguished by a still more extraor- 
dinary work of grace in New London, under the labors of 
Ebenezer Blake and Daniel Dorchester. At the commence- 
ment of the year there were but eighty-one members in the 
church, but during this and the next year there was an addition 
of more than three hundred. The revival commenced in Sep- 
tember, and continued, with great interest and power, during 

* Asbury'3 Journals. Anno 1798, fRev. Mr. Allen's Historical Sermon. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 371 

several months. A profound and holy influence seemed to per- 
vade almost the entire community. At a prayer-meeting held 
in the dwelling-house of Mr. Richard Douglass, it is said that 
seventeen persons were brought to a saving knowledge of the 
truth, in one evening. Many other instances might be recorded, 
in which the power of God was wonderfully displayed in the 
salvation of souls. 

In 1817 Mr. Blake was continued on the circuit, with Rev. 
Joel M'Kee as his colleague. In consequence of the great addi- 
tion which had been made to the society, the pld meeting-house 
became quite too small, and it was thought expedient that a new 
one should be erected. During the spring and summer of this 
year, the second house was commenced, and in part com- 
pleted. Mr. Blake did much in accomplishing the under- 
taking. He not only headed the subscription paper, and 
solicited and obtained aid from others to a considerable amount, 
but a donation which the society received from the state was 
appropriated, through his influence, for the purpose ; so that it 
may be said, in truth, that the house owes, in a great measure, 
its existence, either directly or indirectly, to his influence.=^ 
Little did he then think that the church for whose especial ben- 
efit it was erected would be deprived of its use, and be under 
the necessity of seeking another place in which they might 
peaceably worship God. 

The house was dedicated by Mr. Blake while in an unfinished 
state. He preached, on the occasion, from 1 John 2 : 17, — " But 
he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." It is said to 
have been an occasion of great interest. 

In 1818 New London for the first time became a station, and 
Asa Kent was appointed the preacher. He labored, with 
acceptance and usefulness, during two years. Up to this 
time, New London had been included within the limits of a 
large circuit, and received preaching but a part of the time, on 



*The State of Connecticut had a claim on the General Government for money- 
expended in the war. This money, when received, was to be divided among the several 
denominations in the stale. The Methodists in New London received their proportion, 
which was expended as above. 



372 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

the Sabbath, from the circuit preachers. Now it was favored 
with the labors of an efficient pastor, all the time. The congre- 
gation increased, and very soon it was found that the house but 
recently erected for Divine worship was filled with attentive 
hearers. At the close of the year 1819, the church numbered 
321 members, — a net increase of 30, for the last two years. 
Although 150 were received during this time, yet, when we 
recollect that 24 were expelled, 20 dropped, 3 withdrawn, and 
63 removed, the small increase is readily accounted for. The 
church, however, at this period, was in a very prosperous state ; 
peace and harmony prevailed throughout its borders.^'= 

The society at New London was to have, however, like most 
of our early churches, the hardy but salutary training of adver- 
sity. It passed through a series of painful struggles, and suf- 
fered such reductions in its numbers, that, in 1824, it could no 
longer sustain itself as a station, but was again included in the 
New London circuit. During the preceding two years, there 
had been a decrease of 111 members. A dangerous heresy 
infected the church about this time, which proved fatal to many. 
It was a species of " Antinomianism," like what, at present, is 
known, in some parts of New England, by the term " Perfection- 
ism," though this makes no part of Christian perfection, as 
believed by the Methodists generally. The end of those who 
embraced this error we need not here notice. We will only add, 
that it furnished a sad chapter in the history of the popular 
errors of the day, touching fundamental points in the Christian 
religion. The unhappy effect of this delusion on the church 
was felt somewhat extensively, though many stood unmoved in 
their course, and firmly established in their belief of the truths 
of the Gospel. 

The New London church was formed again into a station the 
next year, and Rev. Isaac Stoddard appointed to it. His labors 
were prospered, and 152 members were reported at their close, 
being a gain of 41 within the last two years. Still the society was 
found to be too feeble to stand alone, and was connected with the 
Norwich station in 1828. It continued in this relation to Nor- 

* Rev. Mr. Allen's Sermon. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 373 

wich till 1831, when it was again formed into an independent 
appointment, with Rev. James Porter for its pastor. Under his 
labors, prosperity returned to the struggling band. Their meet- 
ings became interesting, harmony was established, and discipline 
enforced. Some were expelled, and some withdrew; but the 
society advanced in vigor and numbers. At the end of his sec- 
ond year, Mr. Porter reported 252 members, — a gain, since 1828, 
when the appointment was connected with Norwich, of 96. 

In 1838 the society enjoyed a revival of religion. A large 
number professed to experience the pardoning mercy of God, and 
united with the church. The congregation was unusually large, 
and all things appeared most prosperous. Successful efforts 
were made to pay a debt on the house. Mr. Holway, who was 
the preacher for the year, reported 377 members, being an 
increase of 158.=^ 

Difficulties still awaited it, however, and in 1840 a storm 
burst upon it which was to try it to the utmost. The trustees 
informed the pastor, that after the next Conference, which was 
near at hand, he could no longer occupy the pulpit; and those 
who maintained their fidelity were compelled to leave the house 
which had been erected for their exclusive use, and to the erec- 
tion of which they had contributed according to their ability. 
About forty of the seceders formed a society, called themselves 
" Independent Methodists," took possession of the chapel, and 
were ministered to, alternately, by Universalist and local Meth- 
odist preachers. The kindness of a neighboring denomina- 
tion of Christians provided a shelter for the tried and suffering 
society ; they were accommodated in the Conference room of 
the first Congregational church of the city, where they wor- 
shipped God in peace, though in deep affliction. 

In 1841 the Rev. Ralph W. Allen took charge of them. " I 
found," says Mr. Allen, <* the church in the Conference room, 
and 159 names on the Class-books. Soon after my arrival, a 
proposition was made by the new society, inviting us back into 
the house again. The committee appointed to confer with the 
church respecting it gave us the fullest assurance thatweshoul4 

*Rev. Mr. Allen's Sermon. 

32 



374 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

have the house, without molestation, for all religious purposes, 
as long as we wished to occupy it. Desiring to promote peace 
and harmony, and thinking that it might be best for us to go 
back, under such circumstances, we concluded to do so ; but we 
soon found that we were sadly mistaken. The privileges belong- 
ing to a Christian church worshipping in any place we could 
not there enjoy. A few men, claiming to be trustees, assumed 
the authority of governing and controlling the house as they 
thought proper, without consulting the society. Under such cir- 
cumstances, no church could prosper. I was informed, in writing, 
by a committee said to have been appointed by the trustees, that 
I could not preach in the house after the 1st of June, 1842. 
Wishing to avoid all difficulty, and being assured by the com- 
mittee that there must be difficulty if we attempted to stay in 
the chapel after the time specified, we concluded peaceably and 
quietly to leave it, and obtain another place of worship. Though 
we fully believed that the house belonged to the church, yet see- 
ing no prospect of enjoying the rights and privileges that every 
church ought to enjoy in a house of worship, we thought best to 
retire ; we did so in April, 1842. We did not leave it because 
we did not believe that it belonged to the church, but to avoid 
difficulty, and to enjoy peace and prosperity, which we consid- 
ered of paramount importance." 

Driven again from their rightful place of worship, they now 
retired into the court-house, where Lee, more than half a cen- 
tury before, proclaimed the doctrines of Methodism to their 
fathers. They were perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, 
but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed. Having been 
steadfast in the day of trial, they were, according to God's usual 
providence, authorized to look for his blessing, and for deliver- 
ance. They did so, and were not disappointed. Immediately 
the Divine Spirit overshadowed their humble assembly; their 
"meetings in the old court-house became unusually interest- 
ing ; a glorious revival commenced ; many were brought to the 
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus." About one hundred 
were soon added to the small and struggling band. They imme- 
diately made efforts for a new chapel ; a site was purchased, the 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 375 

corner-stone laid, with solemnities, on the 4th of July, 1842, and 
on the 8th of the ensuing December, the grateful church, freed 
by the outstretched hand of God from the machinations of its 
opponents, entered its new chapel with thanksgiving and praise, 
and gave it, in joyful dedication, to God. " There they have 
worshipped since, in peace and love." At the end of Mr. Allen's 
appointment, they were about three hundred strong ; and they 
have since, by decisions of the civil courts of Connecticut, 
obtained possession of their original chapel. 

Thus does the Lord lead his people through the wilderness, 
guiding them, meanwhile, by the pillar of fire by night, and of 
cloud by day ; supplying them with manna on the desert, and 
water from the rock ; and permitting the faithful few at last to 
enter the land of promise with psalms of triumph. Justly does 
the former pastor of New London, from whom we have quoted, 
say: "We have seen that the church has had its seasons of pros- 
perity and adversity. It has moved onward under the guidance 
of the day-star of hope, and sat down in tears, amidst clouds 
and darkness. But a brighter day has dawned upon us. Dis- 
affected feeling, petty jealousies, and bitter animosities, have no 
longer, we trust, a place among us. And although the church 
has often been constrained to cry out, We are perplexed but not 
in despair, yet now, blessed be God ! it is enabled to discover the 
bow of hope which throws its irradiating arch athwart the skies. 
And never will we despair of success, so long as the encouraging 
promise continues to fall on our ears, «Lo, I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world.' " 

New London has been favored by the ministrations of a host 
of our veterans ; among them, Enoch Mudge, Willson Lee, 
Lawrence McCoombs, Phineas Peck, Michael Coate, Aaron 
Hunt, Ebenezer Washburn, Isaac Bonney, Elijah Hedding, Asa 
Kent, and many similar men. 

New Haven was one of the earliest scenes of the labors of 
Lee and his coadjutors, but was at first rigidly impassive to 
their efforts ; and though societies were formed in all directions 
around it, not until six years after Lee's arrival was a Class 
organized in the Orthodox metropolis of the state. 



376 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Lee's first visit to New Haven was on the 21st of June, 1789, 
when he preached in the court-house, on Amos 5 : 6, — " Seek 
ye the Lord, and ye shall live." He had among his hearers the 
president of the college and one of the city pastors, and preached 
with his usual power. His second visit was on Sunday, July 
5th, 1789. At five o'clock in the afternoon he had the state- 
house bell rung, and was about to begin religious services in that 
edifice, when several "influential men" invited him into the Con- 
gregational church. He accepted the request, and preached from 
Job 22, — ^^ Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace^ In 
the beginning of the discourse he " did not feel very well satis- 
fied, being raised in a high pulpit with a soft cushion under his 
hands ; " but soon his usual facility returned. " I felt," he says, 
"the fire from above ; " and towards the conclusion he preached 
" with great liberty." The countenances of the people revealed 
the effect of his word, and their tears answered to his appeals. 
Two Congregational clergymen were present, — Rev. Mr. Aus- 
tin, pastor of the church, and the younger President Edwards. 
He received several congratulations after the sermon, but no 
invitation to a home. Accustomed to the warm generosity 
of the south, this frigid politeness was chilling to him. It 
somewhat tried his faith, also ; — he usually considered his 
reception and entertainment among the people as an evi- 
dence of the Divine approval, on his mission in any given 
place. "I did believe," he says of New Haven, "that the 
Lord had sent me thither; if so, I was sure I should find favor 
in the eyes of some of the people." But in the present instance 
he was respectfully saluted, and left to himself. It is the prov- 
ince of God's workmen to do their work, and His province to 
take care of them. The laborious preacher, somewhat morti- 
fied, and yet trustful, went to a tavern, sought a room, and pros- 
trated himself in prayer, " feeling the Lord precious to his soul.'* 
Soon a stranger — Mr. David Beecher — called for him, ten- 
dered him the hospitalities of his house, and pledged them to him 
for the future. The Itinerant had gained a resting-place, where 
he spent his first night in New Haven, in grateful repose. 

On August 16th, after a day of laborious travel and preach- 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 377 

ing, he entered New Haven again, in the evening, and was 
entertained by " Mr. Gilbert," a name which has since become 
conspicuous in the history of Methodism in New Haven. " He 
and his wife," said the way-worn traveller, " appear to be 
God-pleasing people." Their hospitable house became his 
endeared home whenever he returned to the city, and many 
have been the holy and heroic men of our ministry who have 
left their grateful blessing upon its threshold. 

On March 21st, 1790, he was again in the Connecticut 
Athens. He thus speaks of his visit. " Sunday, 21st, after 
preaching in Milford, I rode to New Haven, and when the other 
meetings were out, they rang the bell for me ; I preached on 2 Cor. 
5:17. It was a very pleasant day, and there was a large con- 
gregation to preach to ; they paid great attention to the word. 
The number of people that attended, and the liberty I felt 
amongst them, caused me to hope that God would own the 
Methodists in New Haven. Lord, hasten the happy time, I 
beseech thee, and let these people be brought to a knowledge 
of themselves, and of thee! At night, met at Mrs. Gilbert's, 
for a conference meeting; and being often asked, I exhorted 
with much comfort in my soul, and some of the little number 
appeared to be much engaged with God." 

One of the subsequent pastors of the church in New Haven 
gives the following sketch of its history, down to 1826.^ 

" Sometimes Mr. Lee was received with marks of friendship, 
and sometimes with great coldness, by the people. He frequently 
found a resting-place and a home in the family of Mr. Gilbert. 
We now number several of the third generation of this family 
as members of our church. I have heard as many as a dozen 
of them give in their testimony for Jesus in one general Class- 
meeting — the father, children, and grandchildren. How has 
the bread then cast upon the waters been gathered up after many 
days ! The first Class here was formed in the year 1795, by 
the Rev. D. Ostrander. Their first number consisted of five 
[some say ten], two men and three women. The two men are 
still living. William Thatcher is well known as a man actively 

*Rev. Heman Bangs, in Melh. Mag,, 1827. 

32^ 



3f8, MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

engaged in the work of the ministry; Pember Jocelyn, the 
other, is a local preacher, and although almost worn down with 
age and infirmities, is as firmly attached to the cause as ever ; 
and, as far as his age and strength will allow, is as zealously 
engaged in the work as . ever. He is beloved by many, and 
deservedly respected by all. He has lived to see the society rise 
and prosper ; and will soon, probably, go down to the grave full 
of years and honor, and receive that crown which the Lord 
Jesus has promised to all that endure unto the end.=^ A Class 
being formed, they received regular preaching once in two 
weeks, on week-day evenings ; and as the members were scat- 
tered in different parts of the town, they soon set apart two 
evenings in the week for meeting. William Thatcher and Pem- 
ber Jocelyn entertained the preachers and their horses for sev- 
eral years ; then Eli Hall, Jacob Wolf, and others, came to their 
assistance. These were days which tried men's souls. The 
little band had much persecution and many trials : but they 
loved each other, and small additions were made to the society 
from time to time ; but owing to the removal of some, and other 
causes, for several years the society was small, and the members 
mostly in low circumstances. In 1800 an old building, formerly 
occupied by the Sandemanians, was purchased by Mr. Jocelyn, 
for a house of religious worship. Now they were favored with 
Sabbath preaching once in two weeks. Here they were often 
abused and disturbed in their meetings, by those who neither 
' fear God nor regard man.' They even threatened to pull down 
the house, and would, most probably, have put their threats into 
execution, had it not been for the timely firmness and perse- 
verance of Pember Jocelyn and some few others, who loved the 
cause more than life ; for the mob actually broke into the house, 
and began to cut with axes, and break in pieces the seats and 
pulpit ; but Jocelyn literally drove them out, as our Lord did the 
buyers and sellers from the temple — if not with small cords, 
yet with such weapons as he could get hold of. The just and 
strong arm of the law soon arrested and put a stop to these vile 
proceedings. Meetings were held in this building until 1807, 

* This was written in 1827. Pember Jocelyn has since died. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 379 

when a house of worship was erected in Temple-street ; in 1810 
it was seated below, — in 1814 the galleries were put up, and the 
house finished. Here the great Head of the church favored 
them with several revivals of religion, and the number of dis- 
ciples was considerably increased, under the labors of Rev. R. 
Hubbard, in 1808, and again in 1810, under the labors of Rev. 
J. Lyon. At this time it was embraced in what was called 
Middletown circuit ; but by not having a stationed preacher to 
make a steady use of church discipline, and extend a faithful 
and pastoral care over the lambs of the flock, many fell away. 
In 1811 the Rev. T. Bishop was stationed here. He was the 
first stationed preacher in New Haven. Through his instru- 
mentality a steady congregation was gathered, and the society 
began to be respected in the midst of its persecutors. Several, 
this year, came from the Congregational societies and joined us. 
Although they had had a stationed preacher nearly three years, 
they continued in connection with the circuit until 23d Decem- 
ber, 1813, when this connection was dissolved, and a regu- 
lar Quarterly Conference organized by the Rev. N. Bangs, 
Presiding Elder of Rhinebeck district. From this time the 
business relating to the station was transacted within itself. 
Dec. 27, 1813, a Class of seven members was formed at Hamp- 
den Plains, and attached to New Haven. But some removed, 
some died, some withdrew, and some were expelled; so 
that, with all that had been received, there were returned to 
Conference, in May, 1814, only fifty-five whites and eleven 
colored, — sixty-six in all. In 1819 the Rev. E. Hibbard was 
reappointed here. Now the work began to go forward gloriously, 
and many valuable members were added to the society this 
year, and the church enjoyed great peace and love. In 1820 
and 1821 the Rev. W. Thatcher labored here, and the work 
which had been begun the year before continued to increase and 
spread with increasing power. It became general through the 
town and its suburbs, and very many were gathered into the 
different churches. Our congregations increased, until it was 
found necessary to enlarge our house of worship. It was deter- 
mined to build a new house, which, by persevering exertion, was 



380 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

effected; the new house was completed and dedicated in the 
spring of 1822. It was built of brick, on the north-west corner 
of the public square, or green, sixty-eight by eighty feet, and 
had a basement story of about sixty-seven feet square. It was 
plain and convenient, and reflected much honor upon the build- 
ers." 

The church at New Haven has continued to advance. It 
now includes two societies, which have substantial chapels, one 
of them being among the very best edifices of the kind belonging 
to the denomination in the United States. In 1850 there were 
in the city five hundred and thirty-three Methodists. 

Thompson, Conn., is noted in our early annals as a place of 
frequent resort and successful labor, by Lee, Asbury, and their 
fellow Itinerants. We are indebted to Rev. H. S. Ramsdell, 
who is familiar with its local reminiscences, for the following 
interesting sketch of its Methodist church. 

In 1793 a Methodist preacher, by the name of John Allen, 
commenced preaching at a place then called Cargill's Mills, but 
now known by the name of Wilkinsonville, or Pomfret Factory. 
It is located on the Quinabaugh river, not far from the corners 
of three towns, viz., Thompson, Pomfret, and Killingly, and about 
two and a half miles south from the West Thompson meeting- 
house. Capt. Benjamin Cargill, who owned the mills, although 
not a Methodist, or a professor of religion, invited John Allen 
to his house, and fitted up a large hall, in the chamber of what 
is now called the old boarding-house, and at present looks some- 
what antiquated. This hall made a very convenient place for 
preaching, and many assembled there to hear the word. It was 
not uncommon for people to come ten or twelve miles to hear 
the new doctrine, as it was then termed. A number were 
awakened and converted, while John Allen remained. In about 
three months John Allen discontinued his visits, and Capt. Car- 
gill sent for other preachers. About this time, Aaron Hunt, 
Richard Swain, Enoch Mudge, and a preacher by the name of 
Thompson, visited and preached with them ; but which of them 
came first, after Allen left, the old members are unable to say. 
The first Class was formed by Ezekiel Cooper, in 1794. This 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 381 

Class was composed of five female members, viz., Sarah Bugbee, 
Sarah White, Sarah Flin, Lucy Perrin, and Lucy Massey. It 
is somewhat remarkable that all the five lived to see four-score 
years, and that their average ages would not now fall short of 
eighty-five years. Three of them have gone to their rest, in 
peace ; the other two hold on their way, walking in the " old 
paths." Sarah Bugbee is now in her ninety-sixth year. Of her 
it may truly be said, she has run and has not been weary ; she 
has walked and has not been faint ; she has mounted up on 
wings, like the eagle, and has long lived above the clouds, 
enjoying perpetual sunshine, free alike from darkness and from 
doubts. " I have been acquainted with her for more than twenty 
years, and well recollect that in our Love Feasts and social 
meetings her words always burned, and if there was a want of 
feeling before, there was no lack while this old saint spoke. As 
her eyesight is good, she reads much. The Bible and Wesley's 
sermons are her chief reading. It is but a few years since she 
read the Bible nearly seven times through in two years, beside 
much other reading. I visited her last week.. She remarked 
she was desiring to depart and be with Christ, as soon as her 
heavenly Father saw fit to call her. She spoke of the pleasant 
interview she had with Bishop Waugh, who visited her last 
spring ; of the death of ' Father ' Pickering, and other old 
preachers who preached here in the early days of Methodism ; 
and as she spoke of the blessings she received while attending 
upon their ministry, the energy and vigor of former years seemed 
to return, and raising her hands as if she would give wings to 
her spirit, she exclaimed, '0, how I long to be with them!' 
In fact, it does one's soul good to converse with this relict of 
early Methodism, who is almost on the verge of heaven. Soon 
after the first society was formed, there was an addition made 
of twelve members, including Capt. Jonathan Nichols, David 
Cady, William Dwight, Elijah Nichols, Elijah Nichols, Jr., 
Joseph Buck, and Noah Perrin. The first four lived to be very 
aged. E. Nichols died at the age of 97. The three last named 
still live, at the age of near four-scor6 years. They tell me it 
was long before there was a death among them, and that most 



382 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

of the first members lived to be aged. There are now in this 
charge ten old members, who joined soon after the society was 
formed. The first Quarterly Meeting held in this society was 
in a grove owned by Noah Perrin ; it was held in 1794, by 
George Roberts. He is spoken of as having preached with 
great effect on the occasion. There were then but two districts 
in New England. Ezekiel Cooper and George Roberts were 
the Presiding Elders." 

About this time Enoch Mudge preached in Thompson and 
the neighboring region. " It was," he says,^ " in 1794 I first 
visited Thompson. I had one of the appointments on New 
London circuit. As I was travelling from Rhode Island State, 
where I had been stationed the year before, I fell in company 
with a 3^oung man going from Providence to Killingly. We soon 
entered into conversation on religious subjects. I found him 
serious, and ready to hear my experience and exhortations. As 
we were obliged to seek shelter from a long shov/er of rain, 
night overtook us before we reached the place of his residence. 
He kindly proposed, as I was a stranger in those parts, that I 
should turn aside and tarry the night with him, to which I 
cheerfully consented. Surely the Lord directed my way. I 
blessed the Lord God of my Master, as did Abraham's servant. 
I felt the Lord had led me to the house where there was meat 
for myself and provender for my horse, and work to do for God. 
This young man was David Cady, who was afterwards known 
as a local preacher for many years, and whose son, Jonathan 
Cady, is now in the travelling connection. This was in the 
Sabin neighborhood, where has been a harvest of souls gathered 
into the kingdom of the Redeemer. I went on my way until 1 
arrived at Wilbraham, where were assembled a number of 
preachers for Conference. I was stationed on New London 
circuit, and, in company with Jesse Lee, returned to New Lon- 
don, and thence around to Pomfret, to Cargill's Mills, Thompson, 
&c. Here the work soon began to revive in power. Willson 
Lee, David Abbot, Zadoc Priest, and Enoch Mudge, were sta- 
tioned on New London circuit. W. Lee's sword was too sharp 

* Letter to the author, in 1845. 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 383 

for the scabbard ; he soon fell a victim to his zeal and labor. 
Z. Priest soon followed, and died at Norton, at old Bro. New- 
comb's. D. Abbot returned to the south, and has gone to rest. 
It was at the Conference held at Bro. Nichols' chamber that I 
was ordained Elder ; and I was one of those who came from 
the Province of Maine, and returned there after Conference. 
Blessed times these, when we had our meetings in the unfin- 
ished chambers, kitchens, groves, and barns ! A great multitude 
of the old worthies who first received us into their houses, fed 
us and our horses, now rise to my recollection — blessings on 
their memories ! and I hope to meet them and their children in 
heaven. My soul catches fire at the thought of the old pulpits 
where we used to stand to proclaim redeeming love to listening, 
weeping souls. True, these days are gone — but the Kedeemer 
lives ; circumstances are different — the Gospel is the same ; 
when preached in simplicity and power, it has like eflfects in 
turning sinners to God." 

" Shortly after the Quarterly Meeting of 1794, above men- 
tioned," continues Mr. Ramsdell, " the meetings were removed 
from Cargill's to N. Perrin's, about one mile south from Car- 
gill's. To accommodate the preachers, a portable pulpit was 
provided, which, on preaching days, was placed at one end of 
the old kitchen, where the people assembled to hear the word. 
The old pulpit still exists, and is sacredly kept by Mr. Perrin, as 
a relic of former days. I called to see it a few days since. It 
is near five feet high, and about two and a half feet wide, hav- 
ing a step on which the speaker could sufficiently elevate his 
person to accommodate his audience while speaking, and one 
still higher, on which to kneel. 

" Soon after they left Cargill's, they also commenced preaching 
in the house of Capt. Jonathan Nichols, about two or two and a 
half miles north of Cargill's. It was in this house (J. Nichols'), 
in an unfinished chamber, that Bishop Asbury held a Confer- 
ence in 1796. The house is now owned by Faxon Nichols, 
and, having been newly covered during the last year, v/ill, 
most likely, stand for many years to come, — an interest- 
ing historical monument. There were about thirty preach- 



384 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ers at the Conference ; some of them, were from a distance 
of three hundred miles. Seven Deacons and five Elders were 
ordained. Bishop Asbury preached, on Acts 26 : 18-19. 
This sermon is spoken of as having been so interesting and 
powerful, that the Congregational minister (Dr. Dow) listened 
to it with such attention, that, notwithstanding he did not get 
asleep, as did the young man when Paul preached, yet he came 
near 'falling headlong,' having moved his chair so near the 
stairway, while listening, that one hitch more would have cer- 
tainly precipitated him down the stairway, which at that time 
had no rail or banisters ; — one less attentive, however, seeing his 
danger, gave him timely warning. My father-in-law tells me 
that at this Conference he often saw Lorenzo Dow sitting 
on the walls and walking on the common, weeping, on account 
of his rejection, — the Conference having refused to receive him. 
At this time the society here was small, and possessed but little 
of this world's goods; yet the following year (1797) Jonathan 
Nichols, Elijah Nichols, Elijah Nichols, Jr., and William 
Dwight, joined together to build a house for the Lord, and to 
complete it as nearly as their means would allow, and leave it to 
be finished when the Lord should give them ability. The posts 
of the house were eighteen feet high ; the house was thirty-two 
wide, thirty-six long. They clapboarded it on the studs, not 
feeling able to line it. Having put in the windows, and painted 
the body of the house yellow and the roof red, they put up a 
pulpit, and a frame for a gallery ; a few rough boards were 
prepared for seats, and Daniel Ostrander was called to dedicate 
this humble temple of Methodism to the God of our fathers. 
At this time the house was not lathed or plastered ; it was 
entirely in a rough state inside, and the four brethren who 
built it felt grateful that they were able to advance thus far in 
the work." 

In 1806 this ancient structure was somewhat renewed and 
completed. In 1839 it was superseded by an entirely new 
edifice, which was dedicated by Bishop Soule. Mr. Ramsdell 
remarks that " ' This most beautiful house,' to use the language 
of the bishop in his sermon, is forty-two by sixty-seven feet, and 



EARLY CHURCHES IN CONNECTICUT. 385 

one of the finest anywhere in the country ; and but few in the 
cities excel it. The granite vestry was left unfinished until after 
the dedication, for the purpose of incorporating into it some por- 
tions of the old house. We put up the slips there as they stood 
m the old house. The old altar, around which we had seen 
hundreds of penitents bow, we also set up ; it remains there, 
without being marred with paint or varnish. The new house 
is some ten or twelve rods west of the location of the old one. 
A year after the new house was erected, two Classes were set 
off from this charge to what was then Danielsonville mis- 
sion. The following year a new chapel was built at Fisherville, 
three miles north. Since then a house of worship has been 
built in the east part of the town ; so that at present we have, 
in Thompson, three meeting-houses and three stationed preach- 
ers. Of the four persons who built the first house, three have 
gone to rest; Elijah Nichols (then E. N., Jr.) only remains. 
He remarked to me that he commenced the world poor, but had 
been prospered, as he had given to the cause of God. He has 
been favored with honorable opportunities in this respect. He 
gave for the building of the first Methodist chapel in Boston, 
for the first in Providence, the first in Webster, and also several 
others, as well as to our College, and the Wilbraham Academy ; 
and, lest he should cease to do good, has secured to the society 
here two thousand dollars as a permanent fund, the interest of 
which is to go annually to the Preacher's Aid Society, Mission- 
ary Society, &c. Religion took a deep hold on our early 
members. Mr. Nichols has lived to see his five children and 
four of his grandchildren converted to God ; and now, at a very 
advanced age, is waiting for his change to come." 

Methodism has passed through its usual adversities in 
Thompson, but with no little prosperity. The three churches 
now in the town comprise more than three hundred and fifty 
members. 

33 



CHAPTEK XXXV. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1808-9. 

Aabury retui-ns to the North. — New York Conference. — Asbury at New London. — New 
England Conference. — Examination of Characters. — General Conference. — Finances. — 
Proceedings. — Ordinations. —Asbury Travelling. 

Early in the spring of 1808, Asbury returned to New York, 
after a fatiguing tour in the south, and more than five thousand 
miles travel, within the preceding twelve months. " my soul! 
rest in God," he exclaims, as he journeys onward. " I hear, and 
see, and feel, many serious things ; but I must take care of my 
own soul ; my care is to love, to suffer, and to please God." 

On Wednesday, April 6th, he opened the New York Confer- 
ence, at Amenia, N. Y. This body, yet in its infancy, had 
grown rapidly ; nearly a hundred preachers were present, and 
the bishop appointed eighty-eight to posts of labor. The roll 
presents many venerable names; among them were Elijah 
Woolsey, Aaron Hunt, Laban Clark, Ezekiel Cooper, Phineas 
Peck, Samuel Draper, Elias Vanderlip, John Finnegan, William 
Phoebus, Seth Crowell, Freeborn Garrettson, Nathan Bangs, 
Henry Ryan, and Joseph Sawyer. 

The session continued one week, and on the day of its adjourn- 
ment Asbury departed for New London, Ct., the seat of the New 
England Conference. He arrived, by forced rides, -on Friday, 
15th. " My last two days' rides," he remarks, the next day, 
" were severe ; my flesh is not brass, nor my old bones iron ; but 
I was in peace and communion with the Father and the Son. 
On Saturday, we had a great storm. Confinement in doors 
gave me an opportunity of preparing papers for the Conference." 

On Sunday he preached in the Baptist chapel ; it was more 
capacious than the Methodist house, and the liberal church which 
occupied it very generously exchanged it for the latter, that the 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1808-9. 387 

Conference, and the large number of Methodists who had come 
from the neighboring circuits, might be more conveniently accom- 
modated. It was crowded by a vast throng, which hung upon 
the word of the apostolic bishop. 

The session began on Monday, April 18th. There were forty 
members present, besides the probationers ; among the former 
were Brodhead, Pickering, Soule, Hedding, Ruter, Sabin, Wash- 
burn, Beale, Branch, Bates, Sias, Steele, and other similar men. 
Taken as a whole, the Conference was one of remarkable strength. 
Few of our larger modern sessions present an equal proportion 
of genuine ability and moral effectiveness. The examination 
of characters commenced the first day. Eleazar Wells was 
pronounced "zealous, faithful, devout; " Solomon Sias, "unim- 
peachable, profitable, — a disciplinarian;" Benjamin F. Lam- 
bord "improving, acceptable, useful, diligent;" Joel Steele, "a 
holy man, useful." Henry Martin is recorded to have been 
"successful in his labors, and to have had many souls awakened 
and converted under his ministrations ; " Ebenezer Blake, "pious, 
faithful, successful; " Charles Virgin, "a good man, — faithful, 
and acceptable." Joseph Merrill possessed "good gifts, and 
was improving." David Kilburn was " regular, devout, a dis- 
passionate speaker, confirmed in doctrine and discipline ; " Isaac 
Bonney, " pious, improved, of very good abilities, faithful, con- 
firmed," &;c. These notes, slight as they are, possess no little 
interest to such readers as have been acquainted with the subse- 
quent standing and old age of the men who were thus charac- 
terized in the youthful beginning of their public life. Others, of 
less merit, were not less frankly described. One " was devout, but 
there was some doubt of his abilities ; " another was " very inde- 
pendent, but somewhat useful." One "was established in doc- 
trine and discipline, but had singularities." Another " was devout, 
but of moderate abilities ; " and another, "very pious, with good 
abilities, natural and acquired ; but, being insolvent, was rejected." 

The General Conference of 1808 was at hand ; and the New 
England preachers, being favorable to its reorganization as a 
delegated body, elected seven representives to it. They were, 
George Pickering, Joshua Soule, Elijah R. Sabin, Oliver Beale, 



388 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Martin Ruter, Elijah Hedding, and Thomas Branch. A memo- 
rial was also adopted^ in favor of the proposed change. 

There is no account extant of the financial affairs of the Con- 
ference. A brief allusion in the records indicates that Asbury 
brought the usual donation from the Middle States ; $300 were 
received from the Book Concern, and $190 from the Chartered 
Fund. Doubtless the deficit was as great, if not greater, than 
heretofore, for Martin Ruter " draughted an address to the 
brethren requesting their charity for the distressed travelling 
preachers." 

It was voted, unanimously, that " we keep all Fridays as 
days of fasting or abstinence, and recommend the same course 
among our brethren." 

Asbury says : " The Conference sat till Friday ; we wrought in 
haste, in great order, and in peace, through a great deal of 
business. There were seventeen Deacons, travelling and local, 
ordained; and nine Elders ordained in the Congregational 
church, before fifteen hundred or two thousand witnesses. I 
know not where large congregations are so orderly as in the 
Eastern States. There was a work of God going on during the 
sitting of the Conference. The General Conference hastened 
our breaking up, the delegates thereto requesting leave to go. 
There were deficiencies in money matters, but no complaints." 

The members who were ordained Deacons at this Conference 
were, Pliny Brett, Philip Ayer, Greenleaf R. Norris, Jonathan 
Chaney, Eleazar Wells, Solomon Sias, Theophilus Smith, Joel 
Steel, Thomas Asbury, John Wilkinson, Benjamin F. Lambord, 
William Hunt. 

The Elders ordained at this session were, Joseph Fairbank, 
Caleb Fogg, Lewis Bates, John Tinkham, William Stevens, 
Dan Young. 

Asbury departed immediately after the adjournment. On 
Tuesday, 26th, after a ride of thirty-eight miles in a rain-storm, 
he arrived in New York city. " I feel," he writes, " my shoul- 
ders eased a little, now that I have met the seven Conferences. 
I have lived to minute five hundred and fifty-two preachers in 
this country. The increase, this short year, is 7500, in round 
numbers." 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

Appointments. — Extent of the Field. — Abner Clark. — His History. — Death. — William 
Swayze. — His Great Success. — Death. — Isaac Bonney. — Early Life. — Appointments. 

— Character. — David Kilbum. — Christian Experience. — Travels. — Thomas Branch. 

— Incidents. 

The appointments of the New England Conierence, for the 
year 1808-9, were the following : 

Boston District. John Brodhead, Presiding Elder. Bos- 
ton, Daniel Webb, Martin Ruter ; Lynn, Dan Young ; Marble- 
head, David Bachelor : Salisbury, Popli7i, and Salem, William 
Stevens, Alfred Metcalf, Thomas Asbury ; Harwich, Erastus 
Otis ; Sandwich and Scituate, Joseph Snelling, Joseph S. Mer- 
rill ; New Bedford, Epaphras Kibby; 'Nantucket, Nehemiah 
Coye ; Nevjport ; Samuel Merwin ; Bristol, Jordan Rexford ; 
Rhode Island, Levi Walker ; Warre7i, Joshua Crowell ; Norton 
and Easto?i, Samuel Cutler. George Pickering, Missionary. 

New London District. Elijah R. Sabin, Presiding Elder. 
New London, Greenleaf R. Norris, Isaac Bonney ; Tolland, 
Benjamin F. Lambord ; Ashburnham, Ebenezer Washburn ; 
Needham, John Tinkham, Isaac Locke ; Providence, Benjamin 
P. Hill ; Smithfield, Pliny Brett, East Greenwich, Theophilus 
Smith ; Pamfret, Mollis Sampson, Abner Clark. 

Vermont District. Thomas Branch, Presiding Elder, 
Athens, Joseph Fairbank ; Wethersjield, Dan Perry, Leonard 
Frost ; Barnard, Samuel Thompson, Nathaniel W. Stearns ; 
Ver shire, Eleazar Wells ; Barre, Solomon Sias ; Danville, 
John W. Hardy ; Stanstead, Charles Virgin. 

New Hampshire District. Elijah Hedding, Presiding Elder. 
Grantham, Caleb Dustin, Paul Dustin ; Hanover, David Carr ; 
Bridgewater, William Hunt; Pembroke, Hezekiah Field; 
33^ 



390 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Tuftonhoro\ Lewis Bates ; Northfield and Centre Harbor^ 
Joseph Peck ; Landaff, Zachariah Gibson ; Lunenburg, Eben- 
ezer Blake. 

Portland District. Joshua Soule, Presiding Elder. Dur- 
ham., Warren Banister, Isaac Smith ; 'Portland^ Joel Winch ; 
Scarboro\ Samuel Hillman; Falmouth, Enoch Jaques, Caleb 
Currier ; Conway, Philip Hunger ; Bethel, Jonathan Chaney ; 
Livermore, Allen H. Cobb, Joshua Handle ; Poland, John Wil- 
kinson. 

Kennebec District. Oliver Beale, Presidi7ig Elder. Read- 
field, Ebenezer Fairbank, Junius Spalding ; Norridgewock, 
Caleb Fogg ; Hallowell, Henry Martin ; Vassalboro\ Philip 
Ayer; Union, John Williamson; Bristol, Joel Steel; Union 
River, David Kilburn; Orrington, Daniel Ricker; Hampden, 
Joseph Baker ; Palmyra, William Hi n man. 

The appointments of the New York Conference, which were 
wholly or in part within New England, were, 

AsHGRovE District. William Anson, Presiding Elder. 
Cambridge, Mitchell B. Bull, Lewis Pease ; Brandon, Dexter 
Bates, Stephen Sornborger ; Charlotte, Andrew McKain ; 
Fletcher, Phineas Cook, James Edmonds; Thinham, Oliver 
Sykes ; Grand Isle, Francis Brown. 

Rhinebeck District. Aaron Hunt, Presidiiig Elder. Chat- 
ham, Smith Arnold, Friend Draper; Pittsfield, Eben Smith, 
John Crawford ; Whittirigham, Reuben Harris, Cyprian H. 
Gridley ; Buckland, William Swayze ; Granville, Laban Clark, 
Jacob Beeman ; Litchfield, Henry Eames, Andrew Prindle. 

In addition to these, there were, on the New York district, 
under the Presiding Eldership of Joseph Crawford, Redding, 
Noble W. Thomas and Jonathan Lyon ; Middletozvn and Hart- 
ford, James M. Smith, Phineas Rice, Joseph Sackwood, and 
Reuben Hubbard. 

There were in New England, the present year, eight districts 
(including Ashgrove and Rhinebeck) and part of a ninth, sixty- 
eight circuits and stations, and one mission at large ; and on£ 
hundred and three preachers. There had been a considerable 
numerical growth of the church, as we have already seen ; but 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. " 391 

owing to the consolidation of its f^ans of labor, there was an 
apparent loss of one circuit, while there was an actual addition 
of at least two new ones. 

Abner Clark, designated in the above list to Pomfret, Conn., 
circuit, began his ministerial travels the present year. He was 
born in Salem, N. H., May 1, 1788; was converted in the nine- 
teenth year of his age, and received as a probationer by the New 
England Conference in 1808. His ministerial life was short, 
extending only through six years, during which he was appoint- 
ed successively to Pomfret, Ct., Sandwich, N. H., Pembroke, 
Mass., Bridgewater, N. H., Norway Plains, N. H., and Fal- 
mouth, Mass. In these spheres of labor " he was acceptable, 
much beloved, and greatly esteemed as a Christian and Christian 
minister." ^ 

In January of 1814 his health began to decline ; but his spirit- 
ual strength and comfort increased, as the prospects of life receded. 
Early in his sickness, after some religious conversation with 
the family with v/hich he was tarrying, " he fell into a train of 
reflections on the goodness and mercy of God toward himself 
and others. While thus musing, his soul was filled with love. 
He soon began to pray and praise aloud, and continued till his 
strength failed. He remarked that he had never been so 
unspeakably filled with the love of God, since the day of his 
conversion. He manifested an earnest desire for the conversion 
of sinners, and prayed for them very fervently, and finally said, 
'If it is the will of God, and my sleeping dust could preach to 
sinners, I should be willing to lay my bones in Falmouth.' " 

He was soon after attacked with severe and complicated 
symptoms ; but the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit 
were proportioned to his sufferings. " Not long before his death, 
he declared that he had the fullest confidence in the truth of 
that Gospel which he had preached. ' I can lean upon it,' said 
he, ' for it is the Gospel of Christ : it is the truth of God ; it 
came from heaven.' He suflfered much in his affliction ; but 
patience, fortitude, peace, and resignation, were his constant 
attendants." 

* Minutes, 1814. 



392 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

The day of his departure ^arrived, and it was one of spiritual 
triumph. Some of his friends standing by his bed " informed him 
that they thought he was dying ; he replied, ' The will of the 
Lord be done.' A few moments afterward, he said, * I am 
going ! I am going ! Blessed be God for victory over sin, the 
world, and the devil. I have gained the victory, and soon expect 
my disembodied spirit will join the band of music above, and 
bear some humble part in praising God, and stand with the 
hundred and forty-four thousand on the sea of glass,' to sing the 
song of Moses and the Lamb. After which, he added, * Mercy and 
Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed 
each other,' and then soon expired, without a struggle or a groan." 

" Thus," add his fellow-laborers, " ended the useful life of our 
beloved Brother Clark." And thus, we may superadd, ended 
the useful lives of nearly all the faithful Itinerants of those 
times. The}'- sacrificed all for God ; and, in making the sacri- 
fice, they found all, for they found God, who in life, in death, 
and through eternity, is all and in all, to the sanctified soul. 
He died on the 20th of February, 1814, at the early age of 26. 

William Swayze was " a good soldier of Jesus Christ." He 
labored nearly forty years as a local and travelling preacher, and 
with extraordinary success. He was born in Sussex County, 
New Jersey, November 18, 1784, and dated his conversion May 
20th, 1800. He was early led to exercise his talents as a local 
preacher; and such was his success in the awakening and con- 
version of his hearers, that he was confirmed in the conviction 
that his appropriate work for life was the ministry of the word. 
After several years of great usefulness as a local preacher, he 
joined the New York Conference, in 1807. During eight years,=^ 
he travelled extensively within the New York Conference, most 
of his circuits being in New England. These were years of 
signal usefulness, and many precious recollections of him still 
linger in his earliest fields of labor. In 1815 he was transferred 
to the Ohio Conference, where his ministrations were attended 
with his former success, and where living witnesses of his use- 
fulness still survive, especially on Columbus circuit and in Chilli- 

* Not ten, as stated in the Conference Obituary of 1842, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 393 

cothe. In the latter place, his word was eminently in the 
demonstration of the Spirit and power. In 1820 he took charge 
of the Ohio district, and " his labors, for almost four years, were 
crowned with unexampled success." * By the division of the 
Conference in 1S24, he was assigned to the Pittsburg Confer- 
ence, and appointed to the Erie district, where he was distin- 
guished by " his usual prosperity." In 1828 he superintended 
the Canton district. In 1830 he was re-transferred to the Ohio 
Conference. After having borne the burden of twenty-seven 
years' labor and suflfering, in some of the most difficult portions 
of the ministerial field, the infirmities of age and illness at last 
disabled him. He received, at this time, an expression of sympa- 
thy and brotherly courtesy, which could not fail to console his 
declining years. When no longer able to perform effective ser- 
vice, his brethren of the Pittsburg Conference invited him, by 
formal request, to return to their body, share their provisions for 
worn-out preachers, and die among them. In honoring him 
with this act of generous consideration, the Conference still more 
eminently honored itself. He was transferred, and placed upon 
its superanrmated list, where he remained till he departed to his 
final rest. He died at Edinburgh, Ohio, the 29th of March, 
1841, in the 57th year of his age, and in great peace and resig- 
nation. His fellow-laborers pronounce him "a martyr to his 
work." He suffered much during his superannuation, but with 
unabated devotion and Christian comfort. As his end drew 
near, the shattered tenement of clay seemed to let in upon his 
spirit new and more radiant illuminations from the spiritual 
world. The sublime subjects of religion, and the prospects of 
immortality and eternal life, were unusually unveiled to his con- 
templation, and afforded him special consolation, as he went 
down into the valley and shadow of death. 

Isaac Bonney is a beloved name on the list of this year's 
appointments. He was born in Sandwich, Mass., Sept. 26, 
1782. "Like other sinners, I grew up," he writes,! "without a 
saving knowledge of the true God, till my eighteenth year, when, 
at a prayer-meeting, my attention was called to the great inter- 

♦ Minutes, 1842. t Letter to the author. 



394 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ests of eternity. Having obtained hope in God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ, Ijoined a Methodist Class, in March, 1800, at 
Brookfield. A Class consisting of seven members had been 
formed the January preceding." ^ 

In 1801 he was appointed Class-leader, and his devotion and 
talents soon after induced his brethren to license him as a local 
preacher. Asbury ordained him a. local Deacon in 1806, and he 
was received on trial, the present year, by the New England 
Conference. His first appointment was on New London circuit, 
where his colleague was Ebenezer Washburn, — "a most excel- 
lent man and a good preacher," writes Mr. Bonney.t This was 
a year of marvellous religious interest, throaghoui the circuit ; 
the word ran and was glorified. " Three hundred and forty 
members were received," and Methodism was thoroughly rein- 
vigorated. Mr. Bonney was fully introduced, by this first 
appointment, to the fatigues and privations of the Itinerant min- 
istry ; — the circuit required about two hundred and fifty miles' 
travel and thirty sermons, besides other public exercises, in 
twenty-eight days. The following three years, he travelled the 
Pomfret (Ct.) and Needham (Mass.) circuits, — the latter two 
years. In 1812 he located, on account of enfeebled health; but 
resumed his travels in 1818, when he was reappointed to Need- 
ham circuit. His subsequent appointments v/ere, in 1819, Som- 
erset and Mansfield, Mass.; 1820 and 1821, Bristol, R. I. ; 1822 
and 1823, Nantucket, Mass. (two years of great success, in 
which over two hundred souls were converted) ; 1824 and 1825, 
Boston; 1826 and 1827, Duxbury, Mass.; 1828, Thompson, 
Ct. ; 1829, Bristol, R. I., where there were more than two hun- 
dred conversions under his labors; 1830 and 1831, Boston; 
1832 and 1833, Lynn (South-street) ; 1834 and 1835, Lynn 
(Wood End) ; 1836 and 1837, Warren, R. I. ; 1838 and 1839, 
New Bedford; 1840 and 1841, Fall River, Mass. ; 1842 and 
1843, Warren, R. I. ; 1844 and 1845, Bristol, R. I. ; 1846 and 
1847, Pawtucket, R. I. Here, after about forty years' hard labor 
in the ministry, his health failed, and he was compelled to retire 

* See sketch of Asa Kent, p. 188. 

t Greenleaf R. Norris was appointed to this circuit ; but Mr. Washburn took his place. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 395 

into the superannuated ranks. He was soon after attacked by 
severe illness, from which he still suffers. 

Mr. Bonney now resides in Bristol, R. I. He has done faith- 
ful service in the church, and justly enjoys its veneration and 
affection in his declining life. He stoops under the burden of 
years, and his features wear the marks of care and thoughtful- 
ness. He has been distinguished by modest worth, a pure 
exemplariness of life, an indisposition to accept the preferments 
of honor or place among his brethren, a sound but unpretend- 
ing piety, a discriminating judgment, good pulpit ability, and 
success in his labors. Isaac Bonney is, in fine, one of those 
modest but genuine men, who are prized immeasurably more 
by discerning minds among their friends than they are by them- 
selves, and whose associates learn to value them higher as they 
know them better. We take leave of him here, with regret that 
our sketch could not be more ample. He is an example of 
our primitive ministry which the future historian of Methodism 
will commemorate with pleasure. 

David Kilburn also remains among us, a devoted and beloved 
veteran of the early times. He was born in Gilsum, N. H., 
October 22d, 1784. His parents were members, and his father 
a deacon, of the Congregationalist church. " I received from 
them,"^ he writes, " what was then considered a religious educa- 
tion, though I heard but little said upon experimental godliness 
until I heard the preaching of the Methodists. The first Meth- 
odist preacher whom I ever heard was John Nichols, in the year 
1799. From childhood I had serious reflections on the subject 
of religion, and often mourned for my sins, in view of my danger 
of being forever lost, without repentance and reformation. These 
impressions were deepened by the preaching of the Gospel, 
especially when I heard the first Methodist preachers, and I then 
resolved to lead a new life. But when opposition arose, I was 
easily turned aside, and, for about two years, I was accustomed 
to make light of religion ; yet, at the same time, in my sober 
moments, I felt it to be a Divine reality. In the spring of 1802 
my attention was again called to the subject, under the minis- 

* Letter to the author. 



396 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

terial labors of Martin Euter, then a young man of seventeen. 
From that time I became more serious, and lived but few days 
without prayer. But I obtained no satisfactory evidence of my 
acceptance with God till about a year from that period. In the 
month of April, 1803, I made a public profession of justification 
by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and joined the M. E. church, 
at the house of Mr. Day, in Keene, N. H., Kev. John Gove 
being at that time the pastor." 

He soon became active in the church as a leader and exhort- 
er. After several years of useful labor as a local preacher, he 
was received on probation at the New England Conference of 
1808, and appointed to Union River, Me., at that time the most 
eastern circuit in the United States. On his way thither to his 
first appointment, he spent the first Sabbath in Buxton, Me. 
During the day he held a service at the church, and at five 
o'clock, p. M., at a private house. This meeting continued until 
eleven o'clock at night, and resulted in the conversion of six 
persons, " of whom," he writes, " those living in 1826 were all 
persevering Christians." He remained on this circuit three 
months, and at the first Quarterly Meeting was transferred to 
Orrington, an adjoining circuit, where his acquaintance with 
Enoch Mudge was formed at this time. " Mr. Mudge was then 
residing in Orrington, having located some years previously, and 
was very highly and deservedly respected by the people. There 
was also on the circuit a local preacher, named Kinney, who 
had been driven from Provincetown, Mass., by persecution. He 
headed the little band of Methodists in that place, who had 
prepared the timber for a meeting-house. A mob cut it into 
pieces, piled it together, and surmounted it with the effigy of a 
Methodist preacher, tarred and feathered. The Methodists then 
obtained another frame, on the Penobscot river. They took it 
from the vessel, raised it at once, and watched it, day and night, 
till it was enclosed. After some years, Mr. Kinney had a val- 
uable horse wounded, in the pasture, apparently with a pitchfork, 
so that he was entirely spoiled. In consequence of this and 
other persecutions, he concluded to remove from the place. He 
put his effects in his own vessel, and went to Buckstown (now 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 397 

Bucksport), Me., and a considerable part of the society in Prov- 
incetown soon followed him." 

On his first Sabbath in Orrington, Mr. Kilburn heard Jesse 
Lee preach. He was then on his last visit to New England, 
which we shall narrate in our next chapter. " Mr. Lee's 
preaching," says Mr. Kilburn, " was plain, his language very 
simple, and easily understood ; he alternately produced smiles 
and tears. At an interview with him at Mr. Mudge's, he 
remarked that he ' had not tasted a drop of strong drink since 
he saw him last.' This may illustrate the position of our early 
Methodist preachers in reference to the use of ardent spirits, at 
a time when their use was universal in the community." 

He was sent, in 1809, to Readfield, Me., and in 1810 to Dan- 
ville, Vt. This w^as a year of great prosperity ; revivals broke 
out in nearly every part of the circuit, which was two hundred 
miles in extent. About one hundred and sixty converts were 
gathered into the church, besides the many who entered other 
communions. Thomas Branch was his Presiding Elder at this 
time. " He w^as," says Mr. Kilburn, " a man of middling 
stature, very neat and particular in his person and habits, and 
very solemn and devotional in all his intercourse with others. 
He had a clear understanding, and was mighty in the Scriptures. 
His sermons would read well. His delivery was chaste and 
fervent, and he was strong in argument. He was one of the 
best preachers of that day. In his official relation he was a 
remarkably strict disciplinarian. A man of fewer faults and so 
many excellences is rarely found." 

Mr. Kilburn's subsequent appointments were, in 1811, Bar- 
nard Vt., where he was prospered, and added some forty or fifty 
to the church; 1812, Wethersfield, Vt. ; 1813 and 1814, Barre, 
Vt., — "a year of reformation," he writes. The confusion of 
war raged through the land ; but the preachers of Methodism 
continued, nevertheless, to press on their own spiritual battles 
against " the powers of darkness." " On Barre circuit we held," 
says Mr. Kilburn, " a camp-meeting, which continued over the 
Sabbath on which the battle of Lake Champlain was fought ; 
and the sound of the guns was heard in the vicinity of the 
34 



398 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

camp ground. In the noise of war, and the excitement of feel- 
ing natural to those whose friends had answered the summons 
of the American commandant at Plattsburg, the work of salva- 
tion went on in our camp." 

In 1815 he was Presiding Elder of New Hampshire district, 
which he continued to superintend during four years. " My pre- 
decessors," he writes, " on this district were John Brodhead, Elijah 
Hedding, Martin Ruter and Solomon Sias. During these four 
years there was much prosperity, many extensive revivals, 
abundance of labor, and very meagre support. My receipts in 
everything (with the exception of my board among the people, 
when on my tours) did not average one hundred dollars a 
year ; and the average receipts of the preachers on the district 
did not much exceed that amount. But I was cheerful and 
happy, and was never deprived of an hour's sleep by anticipa- 
tion of want." 

In 1819 he was appointed to Needham circuit, Mass. ; 1820, 
Boston ; 1821 and 1822, Portland, Me. ; 1823, Danville, Vt.,— 
a successful year, with an addition of forty to the church ; 1824, 
Barre, Vt. ; 1825, Portland district, in the newly-formed Maine 
Conference. He spent four years on this district, during which 
its numbers of churches, members and preachers, were nearly 
doubled. Many remarkable conversions and incidents attended 
the revivals of these years. Not only were the false opinions, 
but the physical strength, of strong men often overpowered. " I 
preached," says Mr. Kilburn, " in a school-house at Rumford, on 
Bethel circuit; and a young man chopped wood at the door 
during the whole service, to disturb the exercises. Soon after, 
we erected a meeting-house there, at the dedication of which I 
preached. From that time a revival commenced, and for two 
years, at each Quarterly Meeting, from twenty to fifty were at 
the altar for prayers. At one time, when inviting persons to 
come to the altar, I observed a stir in the gallery ; many were 
weeping; and shortly I saw a man coming down, and mak- 
ing his way up the aisle, and uttering loud cries, — ' God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! ' On reaching the altar, he fell on 
his knees, but did not obtain comfort at that time. On the next 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 399 

evening I preached at a place across the river, some miles from 
his house. I noticed the same person and his wife in the con- 
gregation. After meeting I returned to the village where he 
resided, and was met by a man, who requested me to go to 

P K 's. He said that he had just helped him out of 

his sleigh, for he had no strength to help himself. On entering 
his house, 1 found him sitting in a chair, and repeating, in low 
tones, 'Praised be God — praised be God!' He told me that, 
on his return from the meeting, as he drove down the bank of 
the river to the ice, he seemed to himself to be about to sink to 
hell, and be lost forever, — though he had been a professed 
Universalist. On reaching the ice, his strength left him ; but 
he held the reins clenched in his hands. His wife did not 
observe this until, as they approached the house, the horse went 
towards the barn. She then knew that he had lost his strength, 
and she called his unconverted neighbors to come and take him 
out of the sleigh. In his despair he had been converted and com- 
forted. When I heard of him last, he was a faithful Christian. At 
the next Quarterly Meeting a similar instance occurred. The 
manifestation of the Divine presence and power was even more 
remarkable. Parents and children came to the altar, without 
any previous knowledge of each other's feelings. The com- 
panions of our brethren and sisters, and their children, who had 
long been the subjects of earnest prayer, were found there, in 
penitence seeking the Saviour. There had been present at the 
preaching a gentleman of considerable influence in the town — 
a justice of the peace, whose residence was immediately oppo- 
site the church, and was always open for my entertainment. 
His wife had previously experienced religion, and was a member 

of our church. Esquire B returned home after the close of 

the sermon, but felt dissatisfied with himself. Something within 
him said, ' You have done wrong ! ' He returned to the meeting- 
house, and took a seat in the gallery, that he might witness the 
Sacrament. During the administration, one of the ministers, in 
distributing the bread, said, ' O that we could see Jesus Christ 
set forth before us, crucified and slain ! ' This remark thrilled 
through the soul of Mr. B , and melted his heart. He found 



400 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

himself dropping tears upon the people beneath. He attempted 
to move back, but found that he could not stir. Presently, 
when the invitation was given to penitents to come to the altar, 
two young men, who had been recently converted, came to him, 
took him by the arras, and assisted him down stairs and up to 
the altar. During this time, his wife, who was weeping in 
prayer for him, and was not aware of his presence, heard behind 
her a movement. She looked, and saw her husband, who was 
crying, ' God have mercy on me ! God have mercy on me ! ' 
When within about ten feet of the altar, he fell on his knees, 
and in this posture came the rest of the way. Our meeting, 
which began at half-past ten o'clock in the forenoon, con- 
tinued, without intermission, till nine o'clock in the evening. 
Meetings were held successively for four days, and resulted in 
the conversion of twenty others, besides Mr. B ." 

In 1829 Mr. Kilburn was transferred back to the New England 
Conference, and made Presiding Elder of the Springfield district, 
then first formed. He spent but one year in this charge ; but it 
was a period of great prosperity, about eight hundred members 
being added to the church. The j^ears 1830 and 1831 he spent 
at Providence, R. I. ; 1832, Lowell, Mass. ; 1833, Lynn, Mass. ; 
1834 and 1835, North Bridgewater, Mass. ; 1836 and 1837, 
Providence district ; 1838, Boston ; 1839, Boston district, which 
he travelled four years ; 1843, Waltham, Mass. ; 1844, West- 
field, Mass. ; 1845 and 1846, Barre mission, Vt. ; 1847, Ash- 
burnham, Mass.; 1848, South Royalston, Mass.; 1849 and 
1850, Dudley, Mass. 

After forty-three years of faithful labors, during which he has 
enjoyed the fullest confidence and affection of his brethren, ho 
was returned superannuated in 1851. 

Mr. Kilburn has nearly passed through his " three-score years 
and ten," but retains well his vigor. His frame is large ; his 
bead well developed; his features round, and expressive of 
benevolence and calm enjoyment. He has been unwaveringly 
steadfast in the devotion of his life to the interests of the Gos- 
pel. His pulpit discourses have been characterized by good 
sense and the " unction from the Holy One ; " and many have 
been the seals of his ministry. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND. 

Lee at Norwalk. — Stratford. — New Haven. — In Rhode Island. — Boston and Lynn. — In 
Maine. — Incidents. — His Return. — His Character. — Example of Wit. — Triumphant 
Death. 

On the 31st of May, 1808, Lee left Baltimore, on a final visit 
to his old friends and old fields of labor, in New England. He 
had been absent in the Middle and Southern States about eight 
years. Many changes had occurred in the east, since his depart- 
ure. Methodism had enlarged its tents and strengthened its 
stakes on all hands, and most of its preachers had commenced 
their travels, during this interval. He proposed to pass rapidly 
once more over his old tours, to greet in the Lord his old friends, 
and take his final leave of them till they should meet again in 
the " building of God, — the house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens ! " 

He lingered on his route towards the north, visiting and 
preaching among the churches, till the latter part of June, when, 
crossing the Sound, he landed at Norwalk, Ct., the village on 
whose highway he had preached his first sermon in New Eng- 
land. " He was much gratified," says his biographer, " in salut- 
ing, in the name of the Lord Jesus, some of his friends of former 
days. Almost twenty years had passed away since he first, as 
a stranger, entered this part of the world. On his first appear- 
ance, few were prepossessed in his favor; but his constancy and 
firmness conquered the prejudices of many. He encountered 
floods of bigotry and persecution ; but he was borne through 
them all, and lived to see * the crooked ways made straight and 
the rough places made even,' and living witnesses in abundance 
raised up, who could rejoice that ever they heard the Gospel from 
the mouth of a Methodist minister." 
34^ 



402 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

He now hastened on ; and his notes by the way are, as usual, 
very brief, but they afford us intimations of the interest of both 
himself and his hearers in his visit. On Saturday, July 2nd, he 
was at Stratfield, where he had formed his first New England 
Class. A few persons were assembled, to whom he delivered his 
final charge, and after praying with them, passed on to New 
Haven, where he put up at " old Brother Jocelyn's," a name 
memorable to New Haven Methodists. He spent the Sabbath 
in that city. " At ten o'clock, I preached," he says, '' on Zech- 
ariah 9 : 12. We had a comfortable time together ; I preached 
also at three o'clock, and at night. I had great liberty in speak- 
ing, and the people were considerably affected under the word." 

On Saturday, he arrived at the residence of his old friend 
General Lippett, Cranston, R. I., and met " a hearty welcome." 
On Sabbath he preached twice, and administered the Lord's sup- 
per. " We had," he says, " another precious time of the love 
and the presence of God. Tuesday, 12th, I rode to Providence, 
and put up at John Lippett's, and at night preached in the town- 
house. I believe some good was done at that time, and I hope 
the fruit thereof will be seen after many days. It has been 
many years since I preached in that town : but I felt something 
of the same union with the people that I formerly felt. There 
is now a small society in Providence. The next day I rode 
early ; I stopped a little in Bristol, and travelled on to New- 
port, and put up with Samuel Merwin, who is our stationed 
preacher in town. I was pleased at hearing that the Lord was 
prospering his work in that town, and that some souls were seek- 
ing the Lord. Thursday, 14th, I went over to the fort to visit 
Captain Lloyd Beale, who commands the fort, and who is a 
steady Methodist. I returned, and just before dark the bell was 
rung for meeting. I went out to see and hear it, for it was the 
first bell that I ever saw in a steeple to a Methodist meeting- 
house. The Methodists and others have united to build a 
Methodist meeting-house, which is not finished, but is fit to 
preach in. They have a steeple to it, with a pretty large bell ; 
the house is fitted up with large square pews, so that a part of 
the people sit with their faces, and others with their backs. 



LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND, 403 

towards the preacher ; and these pews are sold to purchasers. 
Male and female sit together. Is not this a violation of Metho- 
dist rules ? At night I preached, and we had a good time. The 
next day I tarried in town, and visited many of my former 
acquaintances; and at night, in our new meeting-house, I preached 
on John 16 : 22. The house was much crowded, and the people 
were all attention, and many were bathed in tears. I warned 
them, and entreated them, as though I was never more to see 
them. I hope the blessing of the Lord will attend them. Sat- 
urday, 16th, I preached in Portsmouth, in our meeting-house. 
I had a precious weeping time amongst my old friends. The 
word took hold upon their hearts, and they wept freely. I was 
truly thankful to God for the meeting. I spent the Sabbath in 
Bristol, in which place there has been a revival of religion of 
late. They have built a good meeting-house, but not on the 
Methodist plan ; for they have sold the seats, and men and women 
sit together." 

On Thursday, 21st, he reached Boston, and was welcomed 
by his old friends with much emotion. They assembled " in the 
old meeting-house " to hear him, the same evening, and he 
preached to them from 2 Cor. 5 : 16. " I found," he says, " a 
sweet sense of the love of God in m.y soul, and the people were 
quite attentive. The next day I tarried in town, and at night 
in the new meeting-house [Bromfield-st.] I preached on Rom. 
8 : 24. I did not feel as much freedom in this house as I did 
in the old. This new meeting-house is large and elegant, — I 
think eighty-four by sixty-four. It has an altar round the pul- 
pit, in a half-circle, and the house is fixed with long pews, of a 
circular form, to be uniform with the altar. The front of the 
gallery is of the same form. It looks very handsome, and will 
contain an abundance of people ; but is not on the Methodist 
plan, for the pews are sold to the highest bidder." 

" Old Bromfield-street " is still precious in the regards of 
Boston Methodists. It has been renovated, and is now one of 
the best church edifices in the metropolis. 

On Saturday, 23d, he was received with warmth among his 
former associates at Lynn, many of whom were converted under 



4M MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

his ministrations, and had borne with him the burden and heat 
of the day. They called on him at the parsonage, in the even- 
ing. The next day being the Sabbath, he preached to them in 
the morning, with much effect, from Isaiah 33 : 18. " It was an 
affecting time. At three .o'clock I preached, and the house was 
much thronged. The Lord was with us. And also at six 
o'clock my soul was much comforted in speaking to the people, 
and many wept under the word. When I ^ut the brethren 
in mind of my first coming amongst them, and the difficulties 
that I, as well as they, had to go through, they could not for- 
bear weeping. I could but hope that a blessing would follow 
that meeting. I have not been so well pleased^ for a long time, 
at meeting my old friends, as J was at this place.'' 

On Thursday, 29th, he reached Portsmouth, N. H., and 
" preached in the old meeting-house belonging to the Universal- 
ists. I had a crowded house, owing to a previous notice being 
given that one of our preachers on that night would preach on a 
particular subject : however, he gave place to me, and I found a 
good degree of freedom in speaking, and was glad to be there. 
Two of our preachers were in town; they have just begun to 
preach in that place, and intend to continue it every Sabbath ; 
and, withal, they contemplate purchasing the old meeting-house, 
in which I preached, if they can. It has a bell and a steeple, 
and is fitted up with pews. The next day I crossed the river 
into the Province of Maine, and rode on through York to Ken- 
nebec, and stayed all night at Barnard's tavern." 

He was now in the old field of his hardest conflicts, where, 
amidst Borean storms, and scarcely endurable privations, he had 
planted the germs of Methodism. The people flocked to hear 
him. " In the north part of Gloucester," he writes, Aug. 3d, 
" I preached, and I had a great many of my old acquaintances 
to hear me ; and the congregation was so large that we were 
forced to go into the woods to hold our meeting. I was greatly 
pleased and comforted among my friends. Many in the neigh- 
borhood have been converted, in the course of a few months past. 
Bless the Lord for his goodness ! " 

He passed on to Monmouth, the seat of the first Methodist 



LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND. 405 

society in Maine, where the multitude still ciowded to hear him, 
with eager interest. On Saturday, 7th, he preached to them 
from Heb. 7 : 12. " I had," he writes, " a good degree of liberty 
in speaking to the people ; and it was a melting time with many 
of the hearers, and the word reached their hearts. Joshua Soule 
exhorted a while, and concluded. At half after one, I held forth 
again, on James 1 : 12. We had another good meeting. The 
congregation was uncommonly large, and many were forced to 
stay out of doors, for the want of room. It was said, by many, 
that they never saw so great a collection of people before, except 
at a Conference. Just before night I attended a prayer-meeting 
at Brother Fogg's,^ and after several persons had prayed, I 
prayed, and then spoke a little to the people, and told them I 
wished that all who would engage from that time to try and 
serve God, and meet me in heaven, would come and give me 
their hands, in token of it ; many came and gave me their hands, 
and wept, and I could not refrain from weeping,. Glory to God 
for that visit of love ! Monday, 8th, I preached at a school-house 
in Winthrop. I had more people to hear me than could get in 
the house ; and many of them wept heartily under the word. 
There was great reason to hope that much good was done. 
Thank God, I have had much of the presence and love of God 
with me every day for some time. Many of my former friends, 
w^ho have grown rather careless, flock out to hear me ; and some 
of them say they will try again to be more engaged with God 
than what they have been heretofore." 

Sunday, 21st, he spent at Orrington, where his visit was at- 
tended with extraordinary interest. In the morning he preached 
from Matt. 25 : 10. " I had," he says, " a large company of 
people to hear me, and I spoke with great freedom and faith ; 
and the hearers felt the power of the word. Then, at half after 
two o'clock, I preached to a crowded assembly. When I called 
upon them to remember former days, when I first visited them, 
about fifteen years before, which was the first time they ever 
heard a Methodist preacher, many of them were bathed in 

*The Rev. Caleb Fogg, noticed in this volume. 



406 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

tears ; for many of them, both parents and children, had been 
converted under the preaching of the Methodists. It was indeed 
a most solemn time, and my soul was much quickened and 
blessed. I could truly say, it was good to be there. In the 
afternoon I preached at Paul Nickerson's. My text was Psa. 
145 : 20. I had a crowded house ; the Spirit of the Lord God 
came upon me while I was speaking, and I wept, and the 
people wept greatly. It was the best meeting that we had had 
together in that place. When I dismissed the people, I told 
them that I was about to leave them, and had but little expecta- 
tion of ever preaching in that place again. I told them I would 
be glad for all, who were determined to try and meet me in 
heaven, whether they were converted or not, to come and give 
me their hands. Many of them came and gave me their hands, 
and with streaming eyes begged my prayers, and wished my 
welfare. Several came who had never been converted, and, 
crying aloud, said they would try to get to heaven, if they could. 
I have no doubt but a lasting blessing will follow this meeting. 
Monday, 22d, I turned my course back towards my native 
country, being then about one thousand miles from home. I 
crossed Penobscot river to Hampden ; and in the meeting-house 
at three o'clock, I preached on John 7 : 7. We had a good 
meeting, and were comforted together. I found some who feared 
God in this place, among whom are some who say that they 
were awakened and brought to God by means of my preaching, 
in former years. I lodged at Brother Joseph Baker's, a travel- 
ling minister. Tuesday, 23d, I rode to the Twenty-five Mile 
Pond, which is now a thickly-settled country most part of the 
way through ; but when I first travelled the road, about fifteen 
years ago, there was not a house to be seen for twenty miles. 
The country has been wonderfully improved of late years. I 
came to the Twenty-five Mile Pond, in Unity, and preached at 
four o'clock. I had a tolerably good time ; but they were not 
notified of my coming until some friends from a distance came 
into the neighborhood. I lodged at John Chaise's that night. 
Wednesday, 24th, I rode early, and went through Clinton, 
crossed Kennebec river, and on to Fairfield meeting-house ; in 



LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND. 407 

all about twenty-six miles. I preached at three o'clock, and 
enjoyed a comfortable season; but felt weak and faint from 
long fasting. Sunday, 28th, at our meeting-house in Farm- 
ington, I preached at half-past ten o'clock, on Isaiah 33 : 13. 
I had a precious meeting, and the congregation was very 
large, insomuch that there was not room in the house to 
contain the people. It was a melting time indeed, and the 
people wept in every part of the house. Then we had the 
Lord's supper, and a great many communicants, together with 
twelve preachers. The people were greatly affected at the table, 
and many of the spectators who tarried in' the house wept freely. 
I was pleased and surprised to see such a crowd of people at the 
Lord's table. When I first came among them, about fifteen 
years ago, they had never seen a Methodist, and many of them 
were afraid that they were a dangerous set of men ; but at this 
time we have nine local preachers, and, I suppose, about 
one hundred persons to commune with us. Surely, the Lord 
hath done great things for us. At half-past one o'clock I 
preached again, on Psa. 1 : 23. The people were greatly 
wrought upon by the word. Allen H. Cobb exhorted, and con- 
cluded. I then had a sorrowful parting with many of my old 
friends, whom I never expected to see again." — " The next day, 
he preached in Vienna, to an attentive congregation, from whom 
he parted with regret. In this place he had preached in former 
days. The labors of himself and of those who succeeded him 
had been greatly owned of God. ' The society was large and 
lively.' From Vienna, he visited Strong, near Sandy river, a 
place which he had visited about eight years before. He then 
went on, through Jay and Livermore, Readfield, Durham, Port- 
land, and Scarboro'; and leaving the District of Maine, he 
entered the State of New Hampshire, and taking Dover in his 
way, went to Barrington. He had been in the District of Maine 
forty-three days, during which time he had preached forty-seven 
sermons ; and, to use his own words, ' had seen very few dry or 
barren meetings.' ' The visit,' continues he, ' was the most 
profitable and pleasing of any I had ever made in that part of 
the world.' He also visited Poplin, Sandown, and Plastow, 



408 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

where he finished his labors in New Hampshire, having been 
in it five days, and preached seven sermons." 

By Wednesday, Sept. 14th, he had returned to Lynn, where 
he delivered to the church his final exhortations, and " had a 
sorrowful parting from his old friends." After spending a few 
days in Boston, he passed into the interior, through Waltham, 
Ware, and Wilbraham, to Hartford, Ct., where he preached " in 
the old play-house, in the morning and in the afternoon ; ' but 
(he remarks) there is a very poor prospect of doing good in 
that place, by our preachers.'" 

After spending six days and preaching seven sermons in Con- 
necticut, he reached Garrettson's "Traveller's Rest," at Rhinebeck, 
on Friday, the 30th. Thus ended Lee's personal connection 
with Methodism in New England. His historical connection 
with it will last, we trust, till the consummation of all things. 
He survived this visit about eight years, during which he con- 
tinued to labor indefatigably for the church in the Middle and 
Southern States. His appointments were, in 1809, Brunswick 
circuit; 1810, Presiding Elder of Meherin district; 1811, Amelia 
circuit ; 1812, Richmond ; 1813, Brunswick ; 1814, Cumberland 
and Manchester ; 1815, Meherin district; 1816, Annapolis, — all 
within the original Baltimore Conference. During these eight 
years he occasionally extended his travels to remote parts of the 
south, and down to the last year of his life he was characterized 
by the unresting missionary spirit which prompted his earlier 
labors. He was, during several years, chaplain to the Congress 
of the United Sates, and preached before the legislators of the 
nation with the same simplicity and power which attended his 
ministrations in the frontier wilderness, or on the highway. 

His character has been too amply, though indirectly, illus- 
trated, in the course of our narrative,"^ to require many addi- 
tional remarks. We cannot, however, take our final leave of 
him, without lingering a few moments in the contemplation of 
his rare career. 

He is the great man who achieves great results by great 
endeavors, History will accord to Lee no ordinary share of 

* See Mem. of Int. of Methodism, &c. 



LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND. 409 

such a fame. He possessed no preeminent intellectual faculty. 
His literary attainments were not above mediocrity ; his only 
publication, — the " Short History of the Methodists," — though 
invaluable for its data, makes no pretensions whatever, except to 
industrious research and accuracy. His opinions on great eccle- 
siastical measures would not, we think, entitle him to the claim 
of superior legislative sagacity. But, with a good practical 
judgment for ordinary affairs, considerable general intelligence, 
a remarkably simple and pertinent Saxon style, strong sensibili- 
ties, which were easily kindled in discourse, and a rare native 
faculty of wit, he combined an executive energy which has few 
parallels in our annals, and in which he was exceeded by no char- 
acter in our history, except Wesley, Asbury, and, it may be, Gar- 
rettson. This energy was not impulsive; it was singularly cool 
and continuous. Its calmness was its most intrinsic and valuable 
trait. His great travels, his incessant preaching, the imperturbable 
persistence with which he brooked opposition and all obstacles, 
continually and tranquilly repeating his endeavors against them 
until they disappeared, — these characteristics, distinguishing a 
ministry of thirty-three years, mark him as no ordinary man. 

The great results which have followed his labors will always 
entitle him to the reputation of greatness. His agency in the 
founding of Methodism in New England will, as heretofore 
remarked, place him among the chief characters in the ecclesi- 
astical history of these Eastern States. The cause which he 
here planted has already become, numerically, the second reli- 
gious denomination of New England. He entered New Eng- 
land in 1789, a solitary stranger; when he fell, in 1816, it was 
traversed by more than one hundred Itinerant ministers. He 
formed its first Methodist Class, of three members. When he 
fell, Methodist societies dotted the land from Long Island to 
Canada, and from New York to New Brunswick. When he 
joined the church, it comprised less than 1200 members and ten 
preachers ; when he died, it reported more than 214,000 mem- 
bers, and nearly 700 preachers. 

Methodism in New England is yet strenuous with all the ele- 
ments of progress, and will probably continue to advance pro- 
35 



410 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

portionately to its past growth. As years develop and extend 
it, the historical relation which Lee bears to it must become 
increasingly illustrious. His w^as the happiness, not only of 
ability for great achievements, but of the fortunate time, the 
opportune circumstances, which render such ability ostensible 
through ages, but which only occasionally favor even the noblest 
talents. 

His character was preeminently that of a missionary, — an 
evangelist. To labor, to advance, were his ambition. One 
horse would not suffice for his progress ; he often led another 
for a relay. He could not be content with two or three sermons 
a week ; what was ordinarily the weekly amount of preaching 
with others, was to him but a daily task. His preaching was re- 
plete with the energy and zeal which prompted his whole course. 
It was often overwhelmingly powerful, sometimes smiting down 
hosts of robust men to the earth. It was almost always pathetic, 
constraining himself and his hearers to tears. 

With his deep devotion, the directness and unresting energy 
of his course, and the tenderness of his sensibility, was combined 
an extraordinary propensity to wit. We have repeatedly 
remarked on this fact, and endeavored to explain its cause. It 
seems, indeed, to have been a general characteristic of the early 
Methodist preachers, and was partly attributable to their Itine- 
rant mode of life, and their familiar intercourse with almost all 
varieties of society. With Lee it was not often abused ; it had 
even its advantages : it gave him a bonhommie which facilitated 
his reception among strangers ; it gave an air of good-humor to 
many of the vexations and trials of his career, and not unfre- 
quently it became a keen weapon of defence against the many 
gainsayers whom his peculiar mode of preaching and of life 
could hardly fail to challenge to experiments of merriment. 
His memoirs abound in incidents of the kind. An example may 
not be irrelevant here, especially as it occurred within New Eng- 
land. As he was riding on horseback, one day, between Boston 
and Lynn, he was overtaken by two young lawyers, who knew 
that he was a Methodist preacher, and were disposed to amuse 
theniselves soinewhat at his expense. Saluting him, and rang- 



LEE REVISITS NEW ENGLAND. 411 

ing their horses one on either side of him, they entered into a 
conversation something like the following : 

1st Lawyer. I believe you are a preacher, sir ? 

Lee. Yes ; I generally pass for one. 

1*^ Law. You preach very often, I suppose ? 

Lee. Generally every day ; frequently twice, or more. 

2d Law.. How do you find time to study, when you preach so 
often ? 

Lee. I study when riding, and read when resting. 

1^^ Law. But do you not write your sermons ? 

Lee. No ; not very often. 

2d Law. Do you not often make mistakes, in preaching extem- 
poraneously ? 

Lee. I do, sometimes. 

2d Lavj. How do you do then ? Do you correct them ? 

Lee. That depends upon the character of the mistake. I 
was preaching the other day, and I went to quote the text, " All 
liars shall have their part in the lake which bumeth with fire 
and brimstone ; " and, by mistake, I said, " All lawyers shall 
have their part — " 

2d Law. {interrupting him). What did you do with that? 
Did you correct it ? 

Lee. O, no, indeed ! It was so nearly true, I did n't think it 
worth while to correct it. 

"Humph!" said one of them (with a hasty and impatient 
glance at the other), " I don't know whether you are the more a 
knave or a fool ! " — " Neither," he quietly replied, turning at the 
same time his mischievous eyes from one to the other; "I 
believe I am just between the two ! " Finding they were measur- 
ing wit with one of its masters, and excessively mortified at their 
discomfiture, the knights of the green bag drove ahead, leaving 
the victor to solitude and his own reflections.^ 

After travelling and laboring in the ministry, as he has him- 
self said, " from St. Mary's river in Georgia, to Passamaquoddy 
Bay in Maine," he departed to the church triumphant, on the 
12th of September, 1816. The venerable Henry Boehm, who 

* " Life and Times," by Rev. Dr. L. M. Lee. 



412 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

attended his last hours, gives the following account of them : 
" He came over to our camp-meeting near Hillsboro' (on the 
eastern shore of Maryland), which began the 21st of August. 
Thursday, the 22d, he preached a profitable sermon from 1 
Peter 2 : 5, — 'Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual 
house,' &c. Saturday, 24th, at three o'clock, he preached on 2 
Peter 3 : 18, — ' But grow in grace,' which was his last text, and 
ended his public labors. A large, attentive, serious, and much 
affected congregation, will not soon forget the sermon and feel- 
ings on that memorable occasion. The same evening he was 
taken with a chill, that was succeeded by a fever, which con- 
tinued to the close of his life. On Sunday morning, 25th, he 
was removed to Hillsboro', to the house of Brother Sellers, 
where every attention by physicians and friends was given ; but 
all proved ineffectual. Through the first part of his illness, his 
mind was much weighed down, so that he spake but little. On 
Tuesday night, September 10th, he broke out in ecstasies of 
joy. Also on Wednesday, 11th, about nine o'clock, a. m., he 
delivered himself in words like these ; ' Glory ! glory ! glory ! 
Hallelujah ! Jesus reigns.' On the same evening he spoke 
nearly twenty minutes, deliberately and distinctly. Among other 
things, he directed me to write to his brother, and let him know 
he died happy in the Lord. 'Give my respects to Bishop 
M'Kendree,' said he, ' and tell him that I die in love with all the 
preachers; that I love him, and that he lives in my heart.* 
Then he took his leave of all present, — six or seven in number, — 
and requested us to pray. This solemn night will never be for- 
gotten by me. After this he spake but little. Thursday, the 
12th, in the early part of the day, he lost his speech, but 
appeared to retain his reason. Thus he continued to linger till 
the same evening, about half-past seven o'clock, when, without a 
sigh or groan, he expired, with his eyes seemingly fixed on the 
prize." =^ 

Thus departed the founder of Methodism in these Eastern 
States, as the sun departs over our western New England hills, 
leaving their summits bright, and the whole atmosphere suffused 
with his light. 

* Minutes, 1817. 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 

PKOGRESS AND INCIDENTS OF 1808-9. 

Maine. — New Hampshire. — Newell meditating in a Snow-drift. — Incidents. — Wash- 
burn and Bonney on the New London Circuit. — Anecdotes. — Boston District. — Statis- 
tics. — General Conference. 

The present was a year of unusual numerical growth in the 
church. In Maine, Joshua Soule and Oliver Beale guided, with 
much success, the labors of twenty-two Itinerants, among whom 
were Hillman, Hunger, Cobb, Martin, Steele, Kilburn and Fogg. 
They added two circuits to their already extensive field, and 
more than four hundred members to their Classes. The joint 
returns of the two districts of the province amounted to 3224. 

Elijah Hedding concluded his labors, this year, on the New 
Hampshire district, where he had superintended the travels of 
William Hunt, Lewis Bates, Ebenezer Blake and others. They 
passed through severe struggles and privations, and made no 
remarkable progress. The gains of the district fell short of 
fifty. An additional circuit had, however, been formed, and the 
Divine Spirit was poured out in some places. Ebenezer F. 
Newell and Lewis Bates labored hard, but successfully, on. 
Tuftonboro' circuit. " To rise early," says the former, " read and 
pray a few hours, take breakfast, have family worship, and then 
pass on, from house to house, from appointment to appointment, 
as our custom was, we found to be laborious, wearing and tire- 
some work; but the Lord was with us, and gave us to see 
scores of sinners converted to God; and their songs of praise 
cheered us in the glorious work." 

He relates many adventures and perils, which were character- 
istic of our Itinerancy in those days. At a certain time, he was 
nearly two hours passing through a snow-drift, which was four 
35^ 



414 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

or five feet deep. " I dismounted," he says, " and made my 
way through, ahead of my horse, as far as I could, without 
letting go of the bridle-rein ; and then he would leap and wallow 
up to me, and wait until I had again made him a track. The 
storm was so severe that.l found it difficult, at times, to catch 
my breath, and our path was filled as fast as we left it." 

Such were not unusual scenes with our preachers in the wintry 
circuits of the north. Mr. Newell had some characteristic, and, 
as he calls them, "rich and refreshing meditations," while in 
this dolorous plight. " Among them," he says, " was the follow- 
ing dialogue : — Q. Who is that up to his arms in the snow ? 
A. A Methodist preacher. Q. Who is that in a snug study, 
by his warm fire ? A. The honorable settled minister. Q. What 
is the Methodist preacher doing ? A. Making his way to his 
appointment, where he hopes to call sinners to repentance. Q. 
What is the settled minister doing? A. Hunting his library 
over, selecting portions, and adding, perhaps, some of his own 
thoughts, and writing out a sermon to read over to the people 
next Sabbath, Q. Which of them looks most like a lazy man; 
and which gets the most money, the most reproaches, or follows 
the example of Christ and the apostles nearest, in travelling, 
suffering, preaching, self-denyings, watchings, fastings, and win- 
ning souls to Christ? Here my mind looked back, and saw 
Jesus, weary, sitting on Jacob's well, Paul tossing on the rolling 
waves and shipwrecked on Miletus, and John on the desolate 
isle of Patmos. And my full soul cried out, in the midst of the 
tempest, O Lord, permit me to wear out in thy service ! " 

Such were the trials and such the spirit of these remarkable 
men. " On the plains of Eochester," he adds, " the Lord 
wrought powerfully. Many were converted to God. — Our last 
Quarterly Meeting was held in Tuftonboro'. The Divine pres- 
ence was seen and felt, especially in the Love Feast, and at the 
communion, after which mourners were invited forward. They 
filled the altar, and several were prayed for in other parts of 
the house ; for such was the crowd and anxiety of the people, 
that they could not come forward, and were unnoticed by those 
in the altar. The cries for mercy, sighs, and shouts of joy, were 



PROGRESS AND INCIDENTS OF 1808-9. 415 

such, that one mingled cry, for an hour or more, arose as sweet 
incense before the Throne of Mercy. Many found pardon, and 
went down to their houses, justified, praising God." 

There was no great progress on the Vermont district, though 
Thomas Branch, and his faithful assistants, Virgin, Sias, Wells, 
&c., had been instant in season and out of season. Their gains 
were scarcely twenty-five. 

Elijah R. Sabin superintended the New London district, with 
success. Bonney, Lambord, Washburn, Clark, and some seven 
others, travelled under his supervision. They reported a mem- 
bership of 1785, and had increased more than 300 during the 
year. The session of the Conference at New London left a deep 
impression upon that city; a reformation ensued, which lasted 
through most of the year, and spread over much of the Nev/ 
London circuit. Washburn, who, with Bonney, travelled the 
circuit, says : " The respectable people of the city were con- 
vinced, and acknowledged the work to be wrought by the finger 
of Almighty God ; and there was no foundation on which the 
rabble could stand to raise a persecution. It was no uncommon 
thing to see from ten to twenty on the floor, slain by the power 
of God, while the cries of the wounded and the praises of the 
redeemed were commingling together, in as perfect harmony as 
two parts of a v/ell-composed piece of psalmody, — filling the 
house and ascending up to heaven. One Saturday evening, 
when my colleague was present, I commenced leading a Class ; 
and, as one of the members was speaking of her holy comforts, 
Bro. Bonney fell to the floor, to all appearance as lifeless as a 
body from which the spirit had fled. In less than ten minutes, 
not fewer than twenty lay helpless on the floor. Some lay one 
hour, some three, and some five. One young lady, whose 
reputation stood high, both in the church and among those who 
were without, was insensible fifty-two hours; and when she 
recovered, and sat down to a table to take some refreshment, 
declared that she felt no difference in the state of her appetite 
from what she ordinarily felt when she rose in the morning and 
sat down to breakfast. Bro. Bonney, having stayed at the 
Class-meeting, was under the necessity of riding to Norwich the 



416 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

next morning before meeting : but it prepared him well to preach 
Scriptural holiness when he got there. At a prayer-meeting, 
which commenced on Sabbath evening, two young persons fell 
to the floor, and lay seventy hours. Meeting was kept up 
during the whole time, and souls were awakened and converted, 
and several experienced the blessing of sanctification. People 
of all classes were continually coming and going ; and I did not 
hear of any one attributing the work to any other agency than 
that of the Spirit of God." We have frequently had occasion 
to narrate similar marvels. As unquestionable facts, illustrative 
of the times, they should be put upon record, though inexplica- 
ble by our present knowledge of the human mind. 

John Brodhead had charge of nearly a score of laborers on 
Boston district, among whom were Pickering (who travelled 
this year as a missionary), Webb, Ruter, Merrill, Kibby and 
Merwin. They enlarged their field on every hand, and returned 
2045 members, — an increase, during the year, of 461. There 
were now two churches and 337 Methodists in the metropolis. 
Lynn reported 116 members, and Nantucket 158. 

On Ashgrove and Rhinebeck districts there were also large 
additions. Almost every circuit reported gains. The mem- 
bership of the New England Conference proper amounted, at 
the close of the year, to 10,096 ; it had advanced 1271 since the 
previous returns. If we add the returns of the New England 
circuits pertaining to the New York Conference, the aggregate 
number of Methodists in New England (exclusive of the preach- 
ers) amounted to 15,798, and the aggregate increase of the year 
to 1968 — the largest gain of any one year since the introduc- 
tion of Methodism into the Eastern States. The total member- 
ship of the denomination in the United States and Canada was 
163,038, and the total increase 11,043. The number of trav- 
elling preachers in the entire connection was about 600. 

The fifth General Conference was held at Baltimore the 
present year. It is chiefly important for the measures by which 
it virtually reorganized itself, and became thereafter a delegated 
body. These measures are embodied in what are now called 
the Restrictive Rules of the discipline. Before this organic 



PROGRESS AND INCIDENTS OF 1808-9. 417 

change, the Philadelphia and Baltimore Conferences, by their 
proximity to the usual seat of the General Conference, " included 
more than one-half its members." =^ William McKendree 
was elected bishop, at this session, in the place of Whatcoat. 
The Conference included one hundred and thirty preachers. 
Lee says: " There was a good deal of peace and union among 
them, and from all that I could learn from different parts of our 
connection, there was a wonderful revival of religion after the 
preachers returned from the General Conference to their circuits." 

* Lee's " Short History." Anno 1808, 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

EARLY CHURCHES. 

Church at Newport, R. I. — Its Early History. — Trials. — Joel Knight. — Providence, R. 
I. — First Class. — Early History. — Success. — New Bedford. — John Hawes. — Progress. 
— Marblehead. — Lee's First Visit. — Ebenezer Martin. — The Formation of the Society. 
— Ezekiel Cooper. — James Bowler. — Curious Dream. — Trials. — Chapel. — Remark- 
able Revival. — Subsequent Progress. 

Before the present century the pioneers of Methodism visited 
Newport, R. I.,^ and notwithstanding the ground was preoccu- 
pied by Baptists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, who, with 
one consent, condemned the followers of Wesley as fanatics and 
preachers of " strange doctrines,''^ they were kindly received and 
respectfully listened to ; the word took effect, and souls were 
converted to God. In 1807, Capt. James Perry, then a man of 
wealth and influence, Capt. Lloyd Beale, of the United States 
army, also a faithful soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a firm 
Methodist, together with several other citizens (some of whom 
still survive), obtained from the General Assembly of Rhode 
Island an act incorporating "the Methodist Episcopal church 
and congregation in Newport," and commenced the erection of 
the present house of worship. This efiort, though sustained by 
a large share of wealth and influence, for a young society, was, 
nevertheless, a labor of no ordinary magnitude. Capt. Perry, 
the leader in the measure, was unfortunate in his business ; and 
as another individual, from whom the world had a right to expect 
better things, was unfaithful, the society was seriously embar- 
rassed, but finally struggled so far successfully as to finish the 
chapel. Capt. Perry was induced to assume this responsibility 
only as a friend of Methodism ; and when adversity came, and the 
world frowned, and sickness laid its paralyzing hand upon him, 

*We are indebted to Benj. Mumford, Esq., for most of our sketch of the church at 
Newport, R. I. 



EARLY CHURCHES. 419 

God remembered his generous efforts, and he was not forgotten 
by his Saviour. There was hope in his death. The edifice 
thus erected was at that time the best Methodist chapel in the 
Eastern States. It was pewed, and surmounted with a steeple; 
facts which, though common to New England churches, seemed 
fearfully ominous to the humble and simple-hearted laborers of 
Methodism. Asbury and Lee looked upon it with forebodings, 
which they did not fail to record in their Journals, as we have 
seen. 

Reuben Hubbard was its first preacher; he was succeeded 
by Samuel Merwin. The venerable Daniel Webb followed, 
and, after serving the society faithfully and acceptably for two 
years, was, at the earnest solicitations of the church and congre- 
gation, induced to locate. Under the administration of Mr. Webb, 
the church was blessed with several gracious revivals ; but as a 
large portion of the congregation were wealthy, worldly, and 
opposed to revivals, and as the influence of long-established sects 
was brought to bear upon them from within as well as without, 
these seasons of apparent prosperity were, in general, far more 
advantageous to other sects than to their own. Converts, 
in those days, were easily proselyted ; and, so far from being 
considered disgraceful, proselytism seemed to be approved, as by 
general consent. 

Mr. Webb, after a residence of several years at Newport, 
again joined the Conference, and was succeeded by the venerable 
Enoch Mudge, Samuel Norris, Stephen Puffer, and Asa Kent, 
all of whom were instrumental of much good. Mr. Kent was 
very popular, and was daily gaining influence with the people, 
when the unfortunate trial of Ephraim K. Avery took place; and, 
notwithstanding the wisdom, moderation and firmness, of Mr. 
Kent, the disturbance in the church, moved by public opinion 
without, bore down with irresistible force, and threatened, for a 
season, the complete annihilation of the society ; but the church, 
being founded upon the rock Christ Jesus, though much enfee- 
bled, remained true to itself, and, after the Sanballats and 
Tobiahs had deserted, commenced repairing its breaches. In 
less than two years, under the labors of Rev. John Lord, who 



420 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

succeeded Mr. Kent, the congregation enjoyed a season of 
revival, and Methodism again promised to bless the place with 
its influence ; but it was destined to be further tested, and as by- 
fire. The trials it had survived, it would seem, should have 
touched the sympathies of a good man ; but the successor of Mr. 
Lord felt it compatible with his sense of humanity and religion 
to desert and involve again in deep affliction his struggling 
brethren, for a place in " the true church," and the honor of 
the " Apostolic succession." " Mr. Lord," writes our authority, 
" was succeeded by a foreign adventurer, who cared more for a 
fleece than a flock ; the good work effected was counteracted, 
and we were reduced lower than ever. This second secession, 
though not so extensive as the one first alluded to, w^as by far 
more discouraging, being effected by a preacher whose profes- 
sions of attachment were loudest and most frequent after his 
bargain for desertion had been concluded. It was equally dis- 
couraging to have a few of those who had stood firm in the 
former trial now join the deserters, and help to tear down that 
which they had labored so successfully to sustain. Alas ! poor 
human nature, how frail, how uncertain ! To-day it is hosanna 
to the Son of David ; — to-morrow, crucify him. This was the 
darkest day in our history. The church and congregation, 
reduced to a mere handful, was almost without hope, and it did 
seem as if we must soon cease to exist ; but again fervent prayer 
was offered, — was heard, and the enemy disappointed. At this 
time the Conference sent us the Rev. Thomas Ely, a young man 
of faith, piety and perseverance. He was succeeded by Rev. Jon- 
athan Cady, whose labors were always acceptable, and who ena- 
bled us to enlarge our vestry so much that ' hope again revived.' 
Isaac Stoddard next took charge of us, and under him the church 
was much refreshed and encouraged. Mr. Stoddard was not only 
a man of deep piety, but a thorough Methodist, — one who knew 
how to live the character, as well as to explain it. The trials of 
this dear brother, while with us, were many and serious ; but his 
faith in God was strong, and he will ever live in the hearts of 
the brethren he so faithfully served. Mr. Franklin Gavett suc- 
ceeded Mr. Stoddard, and, during both years he spent in New- 



EARLY CHURCHES. 421 

port, his ministry was owned and blessed in the awakening and 
conversion of souls. Mr. Gavett also had his trials, but he also 
has a place in our affections. In June, 1842, Rev. Joel Knight 
commenced his labors here. It was at a time when the very- 
worst passions of the human heart were most excited by politics 
that this beloved brother appeared as a messenger of mercy to 
the people ; and, by a course as wise as it was conciliatory, 
succeeded in gaining the confidence of the most opposite, — not 
by any debasing sycophancy, but by an open, candid, firm and 
affectionate course. Mr. Knight was a man of untiring industry, 
strong faith, deep piety, active benevolence, — zealous, charitable, 
and indomitable. Circumstances, however bright, could not 
infatuate, nor, however dark, intimidate him. Trusting in the 
goodness of the cause in which he was engaged, and knowing 
God was able to accomplish all things which were for his own 
glory, he implicitly relied upon his Saviour for success in all he 
did. It was the same thing with him to decide as it was to 
execute. He would do neither without prayer, nor give up his 
object while a gleam of hope remained. He came to Newport 
(to use his own emphatic language) ' to do good ; and I will 
never leave it without leaving an influence behind me. I do 
not expect to live long, — I do not desire to ; but so long as God 
enables me to labor, I will labor for the salvation of my dying 
fellow-men ; and rather than leave your beautiful island without 
doing good, without seeing a revival of God's work, let my head 
rest forever in your ancient burial-place.' It was not long before 
these nervous exhortations excited the people to hear him, the 
enemy to slander him, and lukewarm professors to censure him ; 
but God was with him, and owned and blessed his labors. Such 
a revival was never known in this community as that which was 
effected through his instrumentality. It is not alone his success 
as a revival minister that makes the memory of this departed 
brother so dear to us. It was his faith, perseverance, encourage- 
ment, and industry, that has enabled us, poor as we were, to 
contemplate and effect extensive improvements in our condition. 
Without the privilege of naming a single individual of wealth, 
either in the church or congregation, upon whom he could 
36 



422 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

expect to lean, he conceived and effected all that either himself 
or his brethren could expect or even desire." 

Besides the great moral effect of Mr. Knight's labors, he pro- 
jected and completed an entire renovation of the chapel, which 
had fallen much into decay. It v^ras modernized, newly fur- 
nished, and reopened by his successor. Rev. Robert H. Hatfield, 
under whose ministrations the good presages of Mr. Knight's 
labors were more than realized. Rev. B. Otheman followed 
Mr. Hatfield, and his labors were accompanied with great use- 
fulness. 

Thus did this well-tried society stand through its dark days. 
Like most of our early churches, the Lord so loved it as to 
chasten it. During its trials, good and true men were always 
found cleaving to its altar, — men who will assuredly have their 
reward. The society has been favored with the pastoral care of 
effective men ; and is destined, we hope, to still brighter days of 
prosperity. It now reports nearly two hundred and fifty members. 

Methodist preachers frequently visited the city of Providence, 
R. I., in the latter part of the last century. We have had 
occasion to quote repeated references of Lee and Asbury to the 
inauspicious prospects of Methodism there. Joshua Hall took 
up his abode in the city, as a pioneer of the cause, in the year 
1798. He taught school for a support, but preached laboriously 
on the Sabbath, and at other times. On the 24th of November, 
in the same year, he organized a Methodist Class ; it consisted 
of but five persons, all of whom, except one, were females. 
They were, Amey Remington, Mehitable Potter, Martha Clark, 
Shubal Cady and wife, and Annie Cady. The Class met at Amey 
Remington's house during more than thirty years, and prayer- 
meetings were sustained at Martha Clark's for about twenty 
years. Methodist services were maintained regularly from the 
date of Mr. Hall's labors, though no regular preacher was sent 
to the city until some years after. One of the subsequent 
pastors of the Providence church^ has furnished the following 
items of its later history : 

" Rev. Joseph Snelling administered the ordinance of baptism 

*Rev. Ralph W. Allen. 



EARLY CHURCHES. 423 

May, 1801, and Rev. John Finnegan administered the sacrament 
of the Lord's supper to twelve persons, on the 28th of August 
following, — being the first instances in which these ordinances 
were administered by Methodist ministers in Providence. The 
first Quarterly Meeting was held in the town-house, August 
12th and 13th, 1803. The much-beloved George Pickering 
preached on the occasion with great effect. In the spring and 
summer of 1804, the meetings were very thinly attended ; and 
the Rev. Epaphras Kibby, who w^as then preaching to the 
feeble society, became well-nigh discouraged. Circumstances, 
at this time, wore no very flattering aspect. But God had bet- 
ter things in reserve for his people. In July, 1815, Rev. Van 
Renselaer Osborn commenced his labors in the city. The Spirit 
w^as poured out in a glorious manner. Many were brought to the 
knowledge of the truth. Mr. Osborn met with much opposition ; 
but he persevered, and his ministry was crowned with glorious 
success. In September, the society numbered thirty-three mem- 
bers. Soon, it was found necessary, for its accommodation, that 
a house of worship should be erected ; and accordingly efforts 
were immediately made for the purpose. A chapel was erected 
on the corner of Aboon and Washington streets, and dedi- 
cated to God on the 8th of June, 1816. The society, at this 
time, consisted of about one hundred and eleven members. Mr. 
Osborn was stationed there in 1816. In 1817 and 1818 Solo- 
mon Sias was the stationed preacher ; in 1819, Moses Fifield. 
The society continued to prosper. Bartholomew Otheman 
took charge of it in 1820, and continued two years. His labors 
were signally owned of God, in the awakening and conversion 
of sinners. Large accessions were made to the society. Soon 
the house, but recently erected, became quite too small, and it 
w^as found that a more commodious one must be built. A val- 
uable lot of land, on the corner of Clifford and Chestnut streets, 
was given to the society for the purpose, by Daniel Field, Esq. 
On the 6th of August, 1821, the corner-stone of the new church 
was laid; and on the 1st day of January, 1822, the house was 
dedicated to the worship of God. It is sixty-five by seventy- 
five feet, gallery on three sides, with two commodious vestries, 



424 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. * 

and it has now a steeple and bell. It is a capacious edifice, 
neat and plain, centrally located, and every way adapted to 
the object of its erection." 

Since Mr. Otheman's successful labors, many of the veterans 
of Methodism have occupied this station, among whom have 
been Mudge, Merritt, Kent, Kilburn, Fillemore, A. D. Merrill, 
and others. The church has had its periods of trial ; it would 
have been an anomaly in the history of Methodism if it had not, 
for it has pleased God to invigorate our cause, in almost all its 
localities, by the discipline of severe trials. Yet the brethren 
of Providence have been found faithful, and have advanced with 
a steady progress. 

They have witnessed many outpourings of the Spirit, and very 
gracious revivals. In 1833 fifty persons were dismissed from 
the old society to form a new church ; they erected the present 
commodious Power-street chapel. In 1841 about fifty members 
organized another society, but they dissolved their connection 
with the M. E. church, and became the "First Wesleyan society 
formed in New England." In October, 1848, detachments from 
both the Chestnut-street and Power-street societies formed a 
third church. After worshipping some time in a hall, they 
erected a new chapel on Mathewson-street, which was dedicated 
in May, 1851, and is one of the best ecclesiastical structures in 
the city. A fourth M. E. church has also been organized, 
under promising auspices. There were returned from the city 
of Providence, in 1850, between six and seven hundred Metho- 
dists. 

Previous to the year 1812, Fairhaven and Acushnet village 
(commonly called The Head of the River) were known as parts 
of New Bedford, and formed but one tovmship. Methodism 
in this region was first planted in what is now called the Head 
of the River ; although, in the Minutes of 1806, and many fol- 
lowing years, the appointment is called New Bedford;^ and 
from that scion of the Lord's planting the several societies in 
New Bedford, Fairhaven and Dartmouth, have originated, to 

* Letter of B. Pitman, Esq., to the author. We are indebted to Mr. Pitman for our 
information respecting Methodism in New Bedford. 



EARLY CHURCHES. 425 

which number we might, also, with propriety, add Westport. In 
giving the early history of Methodism in New Bedford, it is 
therefore needful also to give a brief account of its introduction 
into the former place. 

Methodism at the Head of the River, in its origin, as well as 
in its growth and early history, is intimately connected with the 
life, the labors and Christian zeal, of John Hawes, Esq. This 
gentleman, in earlier life, was engaged in practical navigation, 
and in his commercial pursuits visited most of the great mari- 
time cities of Europe. While in the city of London, he left his 
lodgings, one Sabbath day, with the design of finding a place of 
religious worship. With that intention, as he was passing a 
narrow alley, his attention was attracted by the sound of vocal 
music. Turning to the place from which the sounds issued, he 
found a congregation engaged in the worship of God. He 
entered, and seating himself with them, listened attentively to 
the Gospel of salvation. The hour was an auspicious one in his 
life ; his mind was enlightened by the truth delivered, and his 
heart affected by the gracious influence of the Divine Spirit 
which attended it. In consequence of that occasion, he was led 
to seek the salvation of his soul. On returning to his lodgings, 
he inquired concerning the people with whom he had worshipped, 
and was informed that they were Methodists. From that hour 
to the close of his life, he was warmly attached to the denomina- 
tion, though some years elapsed before he had much personal 
acquaintance with them. When advanced in life, he relin- 
quished his former pursuits, and located himself at the Head 
of the River, and was an efficient instrument in planting and 
fostering Methodism in that place. 

In 1805 he learned that a stranger was in the vicinity, who 
called himself Epaphras Kibby, and professed to be a Methodist 
minister. He made immediate arrangements, and gave him an 
invitation to preach in the Congregational meeting-house, a large 
and somewhat dilapidated building, and at that time vacated. 
The invitat^ion was accepted, and a sermon preached, which was 
probably the first delivered by a Methodist clergyman in that 
village, although the Rev. Jesse Lee had preached in New Bed- 
36* 



426 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

ford, several years before, and Joshua Hall, Joseph Snelling, 
Daniel Webb, and some others, had preached at Mr. Ellis Mend- 
all's, and in his neighborhood, a few miles from the Head of the 
River, on the way to Sandwich. The meeting was followed by 
others, and so graciously did the Lord bless the labors of his 
servant, that, at the next session of the N. E. Conference, it was 
thought proper to appoint him to that place as his field of labor for 
the ensuing year. He continued to preach in the Congregational 
meeting-house, and a Class was formed, consisting of twelve per- 
sons, viz., John Hawes, Benj. Dillingham, Ruth Dillingham, 
Abigail Hawes, Daniel Somerton, Hannah Somerton, Ann 
Wrightington, Freelove Nye, Mary Cushman, Lydia Cushman, 
Jonathan Danforth, and Nancy Danforth. The society increased 
gradually during Mr. Kibby's stay, which was three years ; and 
when he left, at the Conference of 1809, it numbered thirty 
members. 

Mr. Hawes was one of the noblest pillars and fairest orna- 
ments of the infant church ; his piety was of the highest grade, 
and we indulge in no vain panegyric in saying that he adorned 
his profession by every trait which should characterize the Chris- 
tian. Although a gentleman of wealth, and high standing in the 
community, he ever manifested the meek simplicity of a child, 
in all his intercourse in public or private life. He was for 
many years collector of the port of New Bedford, which office 
he held until his death ; but whatever relation he sustained, or 
whatever station he filled, he possessed the confidence of all who 
knew him. He lived in the fellowship and warm affection of 
the church, and died a triumphant death, in the faith of Christ ; 
leaving a memory still dear to the circle who survive him. Mr. 
Kibby was succeeded by Rev. Nehemiah Coye ; Mr. Coye was 
followed, in 1810, by Rev. Levi Walker; Mr. Coye was returned 
again in 1811, and remained with the society till 1817. When 
he returned, in 1811, he found the house in which he had for- 
merly preached no longer at his service, the Congregationalists 
having employed a preacher to occupy it. The church rented, 
as a temporary place for its meetings, a chamber over a store 
next east of the bridge, on the south side of the street, which 



EARLY CHURCHES. 427 

building is yet standing. The society now felt the need of a 
suitable meeting-house, and immediate steps were taken to pro- 
cure one. Mr. Hawes gave them an eligible lot in the centre of 
the village, and added $100 in money to his donation. A house 
was soon erected, although it remained partially unfinished till 
Eev. Benj. R. Hoyt was stationed there, in 1817. Mr. Hoyt 
was followed, in 1819, by Rev. Shipley W. Wilson, at which 
time there were two hundred members in society, some of whom 
resided in the village of New Bedford. We here take leave of 
the honored parent society at the Head of the River, and notice 
the progress of Methodism in New Bedford. As early as 1806, 
there were a few Methodists in that village : of the number, 
were Mrs. Phebe Stowell and Mrs. Susannah Maxfield. In the 
same or following year, Mrs. Esther Chapman, from the Head 
of the River, also resided in New Bedford. Mr. John Wady 
was also residing there, — all of them members of the Methodist 
church. While at the Head of the River, Mr. Kibby occasion- 
ally visited New Bedford, and preached at the houses of Mrs. 
Stowell and Mrs. Maxfield, holding a Class-meeting after preach- 
ing. Mr. John Wady also occasionally conducted the exercises 
of a Class-meeting, but it is not known that any Class was 
formed at that time. It is believed the first Class in New Bedford 
was formed in 1817. It consisted of sixteen persons ; their 
names were John Hawes,=^ Mary Hawes, Joseph Stowell, Phebe 
Stowell, Thurston Chapman, Esther Chapman, Zaccheus Cush- 
man, Almy Perkins, Susannah Maxfield, Benj. Keith, Phineas 
Kinney, Achsah Kinney, Sarah Adams, Timothy J. Dyre, 
Mehitable Bennet, James Blur. The original paper is now in 
possession of Zaccheus Cushman, and bears the following inscrip- 
tion : " New Bedford Class Paper. Zaccheus Cushman, Phin- 
eas Kinney, leaders. Benj. Keith, preacher. The Friday before 
Quarterly Meeting to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer. 
Keep yourselves in the love of God." It bears date April 4, 
1817. Benj. Keith, whose name is on it, was a local preacher, 
residing for a little while in the village. At that time there was 
no stationed preacher with the society at the Head of the River, 

* At that time residing in New Bedford, 



428 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

— Mr. Coye, a local preacher being with them. While the 
Jbrethren generally went to the Head of the River to attend meet- 
ings, on the Sabbath and on other occasions, they also held 
prayer-meetings among themselves, and sometimes had preach- 
ing at private houses, either by the preacher in charge or by 
some one visiting New Bedford. On one occasion. Rev. George 
Pickering preached at the residence of Mr. Hawes, a large build- 
ing on the south-west corner of Elm and Water streets. Soon the 
brethren, for their better accommodation, leased a hall and fitted 
it up for a place of religious worship. The building is now con- 
verted into a dwelling-house, on the south-west corner of Mill and 
North Second streets. In 1819 the little band received a val- 
uable accession to their strength, by the arrival of Benj. K. Sayer, 
a local preacher, who at that time removed from Newport, R. L, 
and established himself in business in New Bedford. Soon 
after his arrival, as a few of the brethren casually met, one 
remarked that he " thought they had long enough gone up to 
Jerusalem to worship," and proposed that thenceforth they should 
have preaching in the hall on the Sabbath, having Mr. Sayer 
for their preacher ; to which proposition Mr. Sayer partially con- 
sented, and from that time preaching was regularly and statedly 
enjoyed by them in the village, and a new era dawned on the 
destinies of Methodism in New Bedford ; Mr. Sayer continuing 
to preach for them, without compensation, until a preacher was 
supplied from Conference. 

At the Conference of 1820 New Bedford village was first 
recognized as a separate station, and the little church soon after 
resolved to erect a chapel. A lot was purchased on Elm-street, 
the site of the present Elm-street church, and a house erected, 
forty-five by fifty feet. The building was thus constructed with 
a view to its future enlargement, so sanguine were the brethren, 
at that early day, of the increase and prosperity of Methodism 
in New Bedford ; an anticipation which has been more than 
realized. The members of the church were few and feeble, but 
had strong hearts ; they had a mind to work in the cause which 
they had espoused and loved, and contributed to it according to 
their ability, and some of them beyond their ability. In its very 



EARLY CHURCHES. 429 

commencement, the society in New Bedford manifested a noble, 
though, perhaps, not a peculiar trait, — a determination to rely- 
on their own efforts, with the blessing of God, in their pecuniary 
matters, with whatever aid their own citizens might afford them ; 
a characteristic which, as a church, they maintain to the present 
day, though they have detached from their body new societies 
three times, exclusive of the branch in Dartmouth, and in the 
city have three places of worship, viz., Elm, Fourth and Pleas- 
ant streets. 

Their chapel was begun in June, 1821, and preaching was 
had in it as soon as it was covered ; the brethren preparing it 
on Saturday evenings for that purpose, by spreading boards for 
seats. A vestry, sufficiently large at the time, was finished in 
the attic story, which was subsequently the place of many con- 
versions. In that " upper room" Jesus often met his children, 
and precious and hallowed are the associations which still clus- 
ter around that retired sanctuary, so often illuminated with the 
glory of the invisible God. The vestry continued to be used 
until 1841, when the house was enlarged, and a beautiful and 
commodious vestry formed in the basement. Jesse Fillemore, 
under whose labors these efforts were made, was succeeded, in 
1822, by Solomon Sias, who remained two years. During the 
latter part of Mr. Sias' stay, many professed faith in Christ; 
and when he left, in 1824, there were one hundred and thirty 
in the society. He was followed by Epaphras Kibby, and in 
1825 Mr. Kibby was followed by Frederick Upham. During 
those two years there was a decrease of thirty-three, leaving 
ninety-seven in society. Jacob Sanborn followed Mr. Upham, 
in 1826, and remained with them two years. They were years 
of spiritual prosperity : during his ministry the Lord favored them 
with an outpouring of his Spirit ; a gracious revival ensued, and 
the net increase was thirty-eight, making the whole number in 
society one hundred and thirty-five. In 1828, Rev. Asa Kent 
succeeded Mr. Sanborn, and received into the society fifty-two, 
leaving to his successor, Timothy Merritt, in 1829, one hundred 
and eighty-seven members. During Mr. Merritt's charge a par- 
sonage was commenced, which was finished early in 1830, at 



430 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

which period the N. E. Conference held a session in New Bed- 
ford for the first time. 

For a number of years there had been a Class in Fairhaven, 
a village on the east bank of the Acushnet river ; it was now 
thought the time had arrived in which it was proper to estab- 
lish a church in that place. Accordingly, a lot was procured, 
and a house erected ; and when, at a subsequent period, the 
society in Fairhaven was organized, they took the house, and 
assumed the debt remaining on it. Mr. Merritt remained till 
1831, and was followed by Daniel Webb. For a year or two 
previous to this period, there had been conversations in the 
society about procuring a room in the south part of the town, 
suitable for prayer-meetings and Sabbath-schools. In 1831 the 
subject was taken up in good earnest, a lot was purchased, and 
a building committee appointed, who immediately contracted for 
the erection of the Fourth-street chapel. It was erected in 1831, 
and was dedicated Feb. 4th, 1832. Asa Kent officiated in 
the chapel till the next session of the N. E. Conference. In 
1832 A. D. Sargent was appointed colleague to Mr. Webb, 
and they labored this year in connection, the society worship- 
ping in the two houses constituting but one charge. Previous 
to the Conference of 1833, the society mutually agreed to sep- 
arate so far as to become two district charges : the Fourth-street 
society was then for the first time recognized in the Minutes of 
the N. E. Conference. 

During a number of years it had been the practice of 
brethren of the New Bedford and Fairhaven societies to go out 
into adjacent villages and hold meetings. At different periods, 
these meetings were sustained at " Smith's Mills," Padanaram, 
and Baker-town, small settlements in Dartmouth. In Padan- 
aram several flourishing Classes were formed, and attached to 
the New Bedford societies ; and in 1837, through the instrument- 
ality of James D. Butler, a gracious revival spread through 
that region, and subsequently a flourishing society was formed, — 
recognized on the Minutes as South Dartmouth, — and a meet- 
ing-house erected. In 1843 the Elm-street society again planted 
a colony at Pleasant-street. For a year or two previous, such a 



EARLY CHURCHES. 431 

step had been contemplated. In the summer of that year, a lot 
was purchased, and a large vestry built on it. It was opened for 
worship in August, and has since been superseded by a substan- 
tial church. An additional appointment, the Kempton-street mis- 
sion, has also been established. Thus has Methodism advanced 
in New Bedford, till it now (1850) reports four appointments, 
exclusive of the neighboring ones mentioned as connected with 
its history. The number of Methodists in the city proper is 
between six and seven hundred. 

Mr. Lee visited Marblehead in 1790, during his first tour 
among the eastern towns of New England. Here he had cause 
to believe that his preaching was made a great blessing to the 
people ; " some of them," he remarks, " complain of being almost 
starved for the word." This was on July 17, 1790.'^ "He 
preached the first time," says a subsequent pastor of the church, 
" in what was then called the Rock church, originally built for 
the Hopkinsians, afterwards a Baptist church, and now trans- 
formed into a dwelling-house, on Watson-street." t In the latter 
part of the year, Marblehead became one of the regular appoint- 
ments of his circuit. His preaching excited an extensive interest. 
Crowds gathered to hear him. " They said they never heard 
such preaching before, and thought he appeared like one of the 
old prophets. This was the first impression ; but afterwards, 
though some were seriously aflfected, many ridiculed and opposed 
Methodist sentiments and preachers." His biographer says that 
" In Marblehead, Ipswich, and other places, he with difficulty 
made out to preach; he could scarcely move a step without 
being entangled in a knot of committee-men. These guardians 
of the town laws and privileges constantly watched the move- 
ments of other ministers. Mr. Lee scarcely ever found them in 
a humor to give their unanimous consent for him to preach in 
the houses over which they had the guardianship; but very 
frequently, while they were deliberating upon the expediency or 

* Lee's History of Methodism. An. 1790. 

t MS. History of the M. E. church in Marblehead, by Rev. E. Otheman, prepared in 
1839. The subsequent quotations, in this sketch, not otherwise credited, are from tliia 
document. 



432 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

inexpediency of his preaching, some friendly person would open 
his doors, and Mr. Lee preached to numbers who flocked from 
every direction to hear the word." 

" The Lord, by his Providence," says Mr. Otheman, " had 
prepared the way for the opening of a dwelling-house for Metho- 
dist preaching. Mr. Ebenezer Martin, who had been converted 
under Mr. Whitefield's preaching, had heard the Methodist min- 
istry in the south, and reported to his neighbors their remarkable 
zeal and success. He welcomed Lee on his arrival, opened his 
house for religious services, and consecrated it as a preaching 
place, and a home for the weary Itinerant. This house is situa- 
ted on Darling-street, next to the pump. The preaching was 
held in a large unfinished ' upper room,' which had been used 
as a billiard-room during the Revolutionary war, at which period 
the mansion was occupied as a hotel. Seven of the family of 
Mr. Martin are now members of the church in Marblehead." 

Mr. Lee visited Marblehead frequently during his labors in 
Lynn and its vicinity. His powerful appeals produced a pro- 
found impression, and he records, on the 31st of July, 1791, that 
" there is a considerable stir in this town respecting the senti- 
ments of the Methodists, and a great many wish us to depart 
out of their coasts." Among those who became savingly inter- 
ested in his ministrations was a Mrs. Prentice, who induced her 
husband to open his house, on " New Meeting-house Lane," for 
Methodist preaching. This house is situated second from the 
corner of what are now called Bock and Mugford streets. In 
its upper room. Class and prayer meetings, preaching, and even 
Quarterly Meetings, were held. Its great distinction, however, 
is, that within its walls was formed the first Methodist society 
of Marblehead, which consisted of seven individuals, all females. 
Their names were Prentice, Doake, Stevens, Beale, Goss, Green, 
and Barker. None of them are now living, but several of their 
descendants are members of the church. In what year, or under 
what preacher, the society was formed, we have not been able 
to ascertain, but it was doubtless under the auspices of Mr. Lee, 
and some time in 1791 or 1792. Mrs. Prentice was a widow, by 
the name of Jayne, when she was married to Mr. Prentice. She 



EARLY CHURCHES. 433 

had several children by her former husband, one of whom, Peter 
Jayne, became a distinguished travelling preacher. While ser- 
vices were held in Mr. Martin's house, Ezekiel Cooper preached 
there, — probably in the year 1793, when he was Presiding Elder 
on Boston district. He was then in the vigor of his faculties, 
and everywhere interested his hearers by the acumen and 
originality of his mind. He delivered a discourse in Marble- 
head, on the winding stairs of Solomon's Temple, from 1 Kings 
6:8. It was an ingenious and profitable allegory, exhibiting the 
various steps by which the Christian must ascend in his spiritual 
course. 

Mr. James Bowler heard this discourse, — the first he ever 
heard from a Methodist preacher. Not only its ingenious con- 
struction, but its evangelical application, interested him much, 
and impressed him with a highly favorable opinion of the tire- 
less Itinerants, who were laboring for the conversion of his fel- 
low-townsmen. He soon after befriended the small church, and 
hired to it an upper apartment in his house, on Lee-street, at the 
low rent of fifteen dollars per year. It was furnished with seats, 
and though accessible from without only by a ladder, continued 
to be the sanctuary of the society till they were able to build a 
chapel. The great evangelist of the east, Jesse Lee, who never 
despised the day of small things, climbed its ladder, and joyfully 
opened it with religious services, on the 30th of April, 1793. 
" To-night," he says, " we met in it for the first time. The 
Lord owned our meeting, and his presence was felt among us. 
I felt great liberty in teaching the people the way to heaven, and 
felt more encouraged about the place than I used to be." Mr. 
Bowler suffered no little persecution for his attention to the new 
sect ; but he steadily adhered to them, assisting them with funds, 
and rescuing them several times, when otherwise they must 
have sunk under their embarrassments. 

A curious circumstance is said to have been the immediate 
cause of the opening of his house to the Methodist Itinerants. 
After having heard them several times, and been led to reflect 
on their peculiar modes of labor, he one night dreamed (doubt- 
less under the influence of such reflections) that an angel stQod 
37 



434 ' MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

at his bedside, and directed him to take his Bible, and read the 
13th chapter of Matthew, beginning at the 3d verse. He thought 
that he attempted immediately to obey the celestial visiter. He 
possessed two Bibles. He imagined that he opened the smaller 
one, but found that the leaf containing this verse was gone ; and, 
in attempting to reach the larger copy, he awoke. The next 
day his curiosity led him to examine his Bibles. The desig- 
nated verse and chapter were actually torn out of the smaller one ! 
On examining the other, he found the verse to read, " Behold a 
sower went forth to sow" &cc. We know not that Mr. Bowler 
ascribed this singular circumstance to any supernatural agency. 
It might have resulted from a confusion of previous Scripture 
reading, and reflections on the Methodist Itinerancy, cleared up 
and adjusted into a consistent picture by that singular magic of 
dreams, which has often thus wrought marvels, if not mysteries. 
In whatever light he considered the curious fact, it at least led 
his mind into such reflections on the text as resulted in the con- 
viction that the Itinerant ministry was the most scriptural mode 
of promulgating the Gospel, and from that time forward he firmly 
sustained it. 

The society at Marblehead had its share of the trials of Metho- 
dism in that day. One of its pastors, Mr. Rexford, was snow- 
balled through the streets ; some of the members were stoned 
and beaten, openly. When one of the little number died, his 
burial in the grave-yard was opposed, because he had been a 
Methodist. The preachers were not allowed to hold meetings 
in the town school-houses, and were at last prohibited from 
preaching on the common. They were under the necessity 
here, as elsewhere, of proclaiming their message in the streets. 
Tour Hill, also the hill north of the railroad depot, and the steps 
of the town-house, were the scenes of their labors, and wit- 
nessed their persecutions and invincible spirit. 

In 1800 the society succeeded in the erection of a chapel. 
They were yet few in number, and poor in resources ; only about 
$100 could be raised in the town towards the new building, and 
about $150 were sent them from abroad. The project would 
probably have failed, had not Mr. Bowler, who still kept his 



EARLY CHURCHES. 43S 

house open as an asylum for the struggling band, generously 
advanced the necessary funds, and given a site for the building. 
It was located in the rear of the present parsonage, on the sum- 
mit of a large rock. Dr. Thomas F. Sargeant dedicated it. 
Like most of our early chapels, it w^as not very fastidiously 
finished, and continued some years neither clapboarded nor 
seated ; rough boards or blocks formed its only pews. It was 
considerably improved in 1804, but not completed until 1818. 
In 1833 it was superseded by a new chapel, and converted into 
a parsonage. 

An extensive work of God occurred in the year 1808. In 
1810 a remarkable religious interest prevailed among the youth 
of the town. "It had been," says one who shared in its bless- 
ings, " a season of spiritual dearth ; the word of the Lord was 
precious in those days ; there was no open vision ; but in the 
year 1810 the Lord was pleased to manifest himself by his 
Holy Spirit, in a peculiar manner, in the hearts and consciences 
of the young. The writer of this was then eleven years old, 
and an eye-witness, as well as participant, of the scenes he 
describes. Prayer-meetings were held by the Methodists, at 
private houses, during the week, besides the ordinary ministra- 
tions of the word. You would never be disappointed, in heats 
or colds, if you desired to attend meeting on Sabbath evening in 
the old house, which was literally, as well as spiritually, /oz^Tz^ec^ 
upon a rock. I remember its first appearance, when there was 
neither gallery nor pews, but simply plank benches. 1 remem- 
ber, also, my impressions there ; they were, that it was the house 
of God — the gate of heaven. A band of faithful watchmen, 
who blew the Gospel trumpet, had succeeded each other there, 
and the fruits of their labors were the addition of faithful souls, 
who, like Enoch, walked with God, and who stood up now to 
encourage the young converts, many of whom were destined to 
stand in their places afterwards in the church. And now, 
amid the busy scenes of life, while one was going to his farm, 
and another to his merchandise, a lad of thirteen years, a mem- 
ber of a thoughtless, irreligious family, was heard fervently pray- 
ing, in an attic room. The great change in his spirit and 



436 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

demeanor surprised his friends, especially his associates and 
school-mates who soon followed his example, until some forty or 
fifty, from all parts of the town, were united for prayer and the 
reading of the Scriptures. The fields, in those days, bore wit- 
ness to the voice of prayer, and the songs of praise, from these 
youthful lips and hearts, to the astonishment of the people of the 
town, who wondered whether the work were of God or of man. 
The intervals of school-hours, the vacations, and any time the 
youth could call their own, were spent, by little companies, in 
prayer and songs of praise. All diversions were laid aside, and 
the truths of death, judgment, and eternity, were the only topics 
of conversation. The latter part of 1810, and throughout the 
whole of 1811, the revival continued, and many believers were 
added to the Lord. While these youth endeavored to live a life 
of godliness, and mutually assisted each other in the way to 
heaven, they met with violent opposition from the wicked. The 
powers of darkness were at work, and many of the young con- 
verts were brought in contact with severe temptations. From 
these causes, many went back, and walked no more with Jesus. 
But, no doubt, the sun of righteousness had risen upon them, for 
subsequent events have rekindled the flame of Divine grace in 
their souls. Ministers from neighboring towns visited their 
meetings, and conversed with the youth, and were astonished at 
what they saw and heard. It was a means by which the 
Redeemer was honored in the conversion of adults in all parts 
of the town ; the word had free course, and was glorified. Of 
forty persons now recollected, who were active in those interest- 
ing scenes, twenty are now living, and of these, thirteen are now 
members of churches in this place, — the larger part of them in 
the Methodist church." 

In 1833, the society, after having been for several years con- 
nected with Salem, was again formed into an independent sta- 
tion, under the care of its former pastor, Epaphras Kibby. This 
was a jubilee year to the church. Its new chapel was finished, 
and dedicated by David Kilbum. Mr. Kibby was the first sta- 
tioned pastor who had preached in the old chapel, and the last 
that now occupied its pulpit. During his present appointment, 



EARLY CHURCHES. 437 

there was the greatest revival of religion ever known in the 
town, though the additions to the Methodist society were not so 
large as they had been in some previous years. Forty-nine 
were admitted on trial, among whom were twenty or thirty 
heads of families ; and on this account the accession was greatly 
invigorating to the church. " Mr. Kibby," says our authority, 
"found outward circumstances somewhat different from what 
they were when he was first stationed there. Then the unfriend- 
liness of other denominations, and the hostility of the world, 
drove our own people together, and served to secure the fruits of 
his labor to his own society; but now, another course was 
taken." In brief, proselytism from the Methodist church was 
pursued on the amplest scale, and compelled Mr. K. to rebuke 
the evil publicly. The other churches of the town received no 
inconsiderable additions — the result of the labors of their Metho- 
dist brethren. After long indifference, if not hostility, towards 
the latter, " they seemed, at last, to have found out that Metho- 
dist converts made very good church-members. Accordingly, 
feeling now very friendly to our operations, and cordially assist- 
ing to forward the good work of revival, they were quite sure, 
some how or other, to lead away a great many who were con- 
verted or awakened at our meetings.'' The Methodist church 
became familiarly designated as the " nursery," where, as one 
said at the time, " all the other churches got their plants." Mr. 
Kibby's rebukes, however, had good effect ; the revival advanced 
prosperously, and at the end of the year he returned the num- 
ber of one hundred and ninety-three members. 

Frequent, though not so extensive revivals, have occurred since. 
" The Rev. Mr. Pickering remarked, in a letter to me," says Mr. 
Otheman, " that if all had joined our society who are the fruits 
of Methodist efforts, it would be the largest in town. We cannot 
say, however, that we regret so many having joined other com- 
munions ; we doubt not they will do good where they are. We 
are not raised up, nor is it our object to build up a new party ; 
whatever else has been objected against us, we have been pre- 
served from the charge of proselytism. If souls are converted 
among us, and see fit to join other communions, we cannot but 
37=^ 



438 MEMORULS OF METHODISM. 

hope they will be the means of eventually removing prejudices 
that may exist among their brethren against us, and will dissemi- 
nate the principles and experience which they have learned 
among us. God may have a deeper design in this matter than 
we are aware of." 

Three preachers have originated in the Marblehead society, 
Rev. Messrs. Peter Jayne, Ebenezer Ireson, and Joseph Ireson. 
The first two have entered into their rest, but have left a trail of 
purest light behind them. Marblehead has witnessed the minis- 
trations of a host of our veterans, — Asbury, Coke, Whatcoat, 
Lee, Daniel Smith, Lemuel Smith, Bloodgood, Cooper, Spry, 
Pickering, Kibby, and many others, whose names are like oint- 
ment poured forth. 



CHAPTEE XL. 

ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1809-10. 

New York Conference. — Asbury in New England. — At Norwalk. — Hartford. — Newport. 
— Bristol. — Boston. — Waltham. — Lynn. — Incident. — New England Conference. — 
Characteristic Notes. — Finances. — Proceedings. — Asbury Itinerating. 

The New York Conference commenced its session in the city 
of New York, on the 10th of May, 1809. It was attended by 
"about one hundred and twenty members," says Asbury. Many 
of the " mighty men," of the times were there, — Crawford, 
Thatcher, Washburn, Hibbard, Hunt, Clark, Garrettson, Anson, 
Draper, Ostrander, Bangs, Moriarty, Coleman, Crowell, Van- 
nest, Finnegan, Robertson, Woolsey, &c. The session con- 
tinued until the fifteenth. " We had great peace and good 
order," writes Asbury ; " we had an ordination of Elders at John- 
street church, on the Sabbath day. We had a great deal of 
faithful preaching. As I wish not to relate the trials met with, 
I will let everything but what is printed rest in shades : there 
were some critical cases, but nothing appeared against any mem- 
ber to justify expulsion. There were one hundred and fifteen 
preachers stationed ; and there were few complaints. If I have 
slumbered five hours per night, it is as much as I have done in 
the matter of sleep." 

Ten young men were received on trial, nine remained on 
trial, twelve were admitted to membership ; four located, three 
were on the supernumerary and two on the superannuated lists. 

After the adjournment, Asbury hastened with Henry Boehm, 
who was now his travelling companion, to his retreat at the 
" Sherwoods'." " I retired," he says, " to sacred solitude, and 
great and delightful communion with God ; but want of sleep 
comes upon me like an armed man. Hail, holy day ! On the 



440 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Sabbath I preached at Sherwood's chapel; afterward at New 
Rochelle chapel : we had an open season in both congregations. 
The Quakers are offended because their errors in sentiment and 
practice are spoken against. I fear what is properly the reproach 
of Christ has long been wiped away from this respectable people. 
O Lord, save thy now" despised Methodist children from the 
praises of the people of the world ! " 

On Monday, he was at Norwalk, Ct., where he preached, and 
stirred up the young church to build a chapel. They were 
" poor," it was alleged. " Poor may they ever be," was his reply. 
" On Tuesday," he writes, " I came to Peck's, at Stratford, — a 
faithful friend, and thence on to Father Jocelin's, New Haven, 
weary, and sleepy, and glad to rest. I dined with W. Griffin in 
Guildford : here is a lot to build a house of worship on, and 
God will work here. In the afternoon I preached at Jeremiah 
Miner's, in Killingworth ; thence, crossing the Connecticut river, 
came into New London. I have had great temptations, and 
great consolations. The weather has been extremely warm. 
My horse twice attempted to run away with my chair, so I was 
obliged to quit it. I must needs preach in New London ; I gave 
them a discourse on 1 John 2: 6. The house was soon filled, 
and many went away who could not get in: surely the society, 
and preachers too, have been blind to their own interests, or they 
would have occupied every foot of ground ; but we have never 
taken advantage of circumstances as they offered in this place, 
and have lost by our negligence. We crossed Narraganset 
Bay on Friday, and came into Newport. Grand house — steeple, 
pews — by lottery : the end is to sanctify the means. — Ah ! what 
pliability to evil ! " "I spoke," he adds, " with difficulty, and 
with little order in my discourses. From New York thus far 
we have had dust and rough roads, and I have been much tried 
and greatly blessed. We have rode two hundred miles in six 
days." 

The next day he visited Capt. Beale, at Fort Wolcott. The cap- 
tain, as we have seen, was a good Methodist, and one of the chief 
founders of the society in Newport. Asbury preached to his gar- 
rison, " baptized some children, visited the school, prayed with the 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1809-10. 441 

sick in the hospital, exhorted the poor sinners to turn to God ; but 
ah ! I might have said and done more. Here I saw discipline, 
order, correctness ; it was grand and pleasing. What changes 
I pass through ! How hardly shall they who travel much keep 
a constant eye on duty, the cross, holiness, and God ! " 

He passed on, rejoicing at many indications of prosperity, but 
lamenting also, with perhaps unfounded apprehension, over what 
he deemed evidences of declension. " On Tuesday, 30th," he 
writes, " we came to the pleasant town of Bristol. The Metho- 
dists here have a house with pews, and a preacher who has not 
half enough to do : poor work! I gave them a discourse on 1 Cor. 
15 : 58. I have as much as I can bear in body and mind. 1 
see what has been doing for nine years past to make Presbyte- 
rian Methodists. At Warren I lodged with Samuel Childs ; his 
wife is a Shunamite. We had freedom in our meeting here : 
I preached on Heb. 2 : 3. Thursday, June 1st, I had a feeling 
season at Somerset chapel, whilst speaking from 1 Peter 4 : 2. 
Brother Brayton's was my home. Levi Walker has not labored 
in vain ; but it seemed as if there had been three preachers to do 
one man's work. There are here two hundred and ninety-one 
members. We reached Easton, and I was indeed tired." 

On Saturday he reached Boston, and the next day, though 
too feeble to stand in the pulpit, he preached twice. " I preached," 
he says, " in the old chapel on Sabbath morning, and adminis- 
tered the Sacrament. In the afternoon I gave them a discourse 
in the new chapel ; it was an open time, of much feeling, and 
deep attention was paid to the speaker. Had I not spoken sit- 
ting, pain and weariness would have prevented my finishing. 
May the Lord water his own word ! I hear of a considerable 
revival in several places, and that the Lord is bringing out some 
children to do the work of men : ' out of the mouths of babes,' — 
so let it be ! " 

On Monday he reached the mansion of Bemis, at Waltham, 
"dripping wet." "I found," he writes, "the four generations in 
health, and I got (O, how sweet !) a comfortable night's sleep, — 
the first I have had for many nights. How good is rest to soul 



442 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

and body, after hard labor for the good of the souls and bodies 
of our fellow-men ! " 

On Tuesday he preached to a " family congregation," under 
the roof of his host, and left for Lynn. "In the evening I 
preached. Our hard-going horses brought us through the dust 
to Marblehead on Thursday. I held forth on John 8: 31, 32. 
We rode onwards, through a goodly prospect of fine buildings and 
fine meeting-houses. At Beverly mine host did not quite under- 
stand praying in the day-time. At Joseph Weak's, in the even- 
ing, at Greenland. From this unpromising place, and other sur- 
rounding towns, God has raised up a society. On Saturday I 
found a happy, simple-hearted society, at Brother Gardiner's. 
The labors of George Pickering and Brother Stevens have raised 
up, under God, a promising society here." 

On his route to the eastward, he was overtaken by the New 
Hampshire and Vermont preachers, who were on their way to 
the Conference. One of them says : " The next morning 1 
started, in company with several other preachers, for Conference, 
which sat in Monmouth, Me. After a few hours' ride, we halted 
in a grove, and let our horses feed in the highway, while we held 
a prayer-meeting. It was a blessed season. We then passed 
on, meeting with great kindness, as though the Lord had given 
the people a command to entertain us for his sake. On the 
morning before we reached Monmouth, we fell in with Bishop 
Asbury, and brought up the rear of more than a score of Itiner- 
ant Methodist preachers. About ten o'clock we stopped at a 
tavern, and called for a room. After we had rested about 
half an hour, Asbury said, ' We must have prayers before we 
leave ; I will go and give notice to the landlord, and some of you 
must pray.' I followed him to the bar-room, to learn his skill 
and manner. He said, ' Landlord, w^e are going to have prayers 
in our room; and if you, or any of your family, wish to attend, 
we should ba happy to have you.' — ' Thank you, sir,' he replied; 
' please wait until I speak, not only to my family, but my neigh- 
bors.' Soon they flocked in; we sung and prayed, and melt- 
ing mercy moved our hearts. When our bill was called for, we 
were told there was no demand against us, and were requested 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1809-10. 443 

to call again. How blessed to hold up the light of truth in all 
places, as we pass along through the world ! " =^ It was Asbury's 
invariable custom to pray in the family where he stopped, 
whether at public or private houses. 

By Thursday, the 15th of June, they had reached Mon- 
mouth, Me., where, on that day, Asbury opened the New Eng- 
land Conference. McKendree was present, but we have no 
notice of the share he took in the proceedings. " We have," 
says Asbury, " eighty-two men, forty of whom compose the Con- 
ference." Among the members present were Hedding, Soule, 
Pickering, Brodhead, Wells, Sabin, Ruter, Bates, Branch, Sias, 
Steele, Merrill, Hillman, Munger, and Beale. 

The examination of " candidates for membership and Deacon's 
orders " began the first morning. The case of one was post- 
poned, because he was " unsatisfied on the subject of infant bap- 
tism," though his " abilities were good, and his character fair." 
Another was delayed for ^' re-baptizing y "Much desultory 
conversation ensued on the subject," notes the secretary ; " many 
remarks were made, and it was voted that we will endeavor to 
be more uniform in discouraging it." Charles Virgin is pro- 
nounced "a good disciplinarian, and acceptable." Ebenezer 
F. Newell, who had not yet been received on trial, but had 
travelled under the direction of the Presiding Elder, is recorded 
to have been " very faithful and very useful ; and it was voted to 
admit him to Deacon's orders, as an exempt case." John Lind- 
say was " recommended from Sandown circuit, — single — 
twenty -two years old — very acceptable." One is pronounced 
"not the most refined, but of good abilities;" another, being 
" thirty-two years old, and married, was not admitted." One 
being " twenty-six years of age, of singular abilities, but eccen- 
tric, and not approved by the people, was rejected." Benjamin 
Bishop, who had located, was readmitted. " He had made 
improvement since he ceased travelling, — was very faithful, 
and in many instances successful." Amasa Taylor was recom- 
mended from Ashburnham circuit ; he " was single — twenty- 
two years old, — was modest — improving." Benjamin R. Hoyt, 
recommended from Needham circuit, " was twenty years old — 

* Ebenezer F. Newell. 



444 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

single, — very highly recommended." George Gary " was under 
sixteen years of age, but had good abilities, and was well 
received." Edward Hyde " was well approved." These names 
are still familiar to the church, and the brief characteristic inti- 
mations attached to them more than forty years ago are not 
without interest to us at this date. 

The financial circumstances of the Conference were still full 
of embarrassment. The dividend from the Book Concern 
amounted to $300, and $170 were received from the Chartered 
Fund ; but so slight an offset to their deficit were these sums, 
and so disposed were these self-sacrificing men to share their 
reliefs as well as their sufferings, that they formally resolved 
"to give an account of what they had received as private 
presents," that such donations might be taken into the general 
amount, and be thus virtually shared among all the brethren. 

On Monday, June 19th, the session closed. Committees (of 
which there were yet but two or three) reported, and the devoted 
band of Itinerants, about again to scatter to all parts of their 
widely-extended field, "spent an hour and a half in relating 
their former experiences and present exercises." Martin Ruter, 
by request of the bishops, read the appointments, and, by night, 
many of them were on their way to the conflicts and trials of 
another year. 

On Sunday, during the session, Asbury preached to a vast 
throng — estimated at three thousand — from Isaiah's exultant 
words : " Sing, oh ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it, &c., 
for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in 
Israel." Isa. 44 : 23. " It was," he says, " an open season." 
At the adjournment, he remarks, " I have to lament my want 
of information respecting both the preachers and the circuits. 
We have ordained twenty-one Deacons, and seven Elders. We 
have located eleven elders, readmitted one, and added seventeen 
preachers upon trial. There is a small increase here, and there 
are fair prospects for the future. I am kept in peace." 

The candidates received on trial, at this session, were, Robert 
Arnold, Benjamin Jones, Stephen Bailey, John Lindsay, Wm. 
Frost, Isaiah Emerson, Robert Hays, Squire Streeter, Daniel 
Wentworth, Benjamin Bishop (readmitted), Elisha Streeter, 



ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1809-10. 445 

Amasa Taylor, Benj. R. Hoyt, Nathan Hill, Henry Hawkins, 
Benj. Merritt, George Gary and Edward Hyde. 

The day following the adjournment, Asbury departed west- 
ward. On Saturday, 24th, he reached Danville, Vt., and though 
quite exhausted with fatigue and feebleness, he preached on 
the morrow in the court-house. He had to sit during the 
discourse. " From New York to Danville," he writes, " we 
compute our ride to have been seven hundred miles. We passed 
many a fertile hill, and saw many fruitful vales, through which 
flowed noble rivers." 

On Tuesday, he again preached, but at the village chapel this 
time. Two of his Itinerant brethren were with him. Being too 
feeble to go into the pulpit, he took his position in a pew near it, 
and thence addressed the assembly from Heb. 3 : 12 — 14. His 
congregations were large; and the court, which was in session, 
invited him to preach before it ; but " I had no strength and no 
time for this," he remarks. He was on his route the same 
day. On Friday, 30th, he was on the shore of Lake Champlain. 
" 1 preached," he writes, " at Fuller's, from Titus 3 : 9, 8. Here 
I ordained Joseph Sampson, a native of Canada, and sent him a 
missionary to his countrymen." He adds, prophetically, " The 
day of small things will be great : but the day is not yet come — 
rather, it is still afar off; patience, my soul I Do I not feel for 
the lost sheep ? — yea, verily ! " 

He passed into New York, and thence westward and south- 
ward to Tennessee and South Carolina, traversing the forests, 
preaching in barns, sleeping on the floors of log-cabins. " Such 
roads, such rains, and such lodgings ! " he exclaims. *' Why 
should I wish to stay in this land? I have no possessions or 
babes to bind me to the soil ; what are called the comforts of life 
I rarely enjoy. The wish to live an hour such a life as this would 
be strange to so suffering, so toil-worn a wretch. But God is 
with me, and souls are my reward. I may yet rejoice ; yea, and 
will rejoice ! I might fill pages with this last week's wonders." 

Much to be lamented is it that he did not do so. Few records 
of adventure could be more romantic, and none more illustrative 
of missionary devotion and heroism. 
38 



CHAPTER XLI. 

BIOGEAPHICAL NOTICES. 

Appointments. — Coles Carpenter. — His Death. — Benjamin R. Hoyt. — Early Experience. 
— Mrs. Pickering. — Persecutions. — Revivals in Vermont. — Battle of Lake Champlain. 
— New Bedford. — Capt. John Hawes. — Boston. — Wilbur Fisk. — Colporteurage. — 
Character. — John Lindsay. — Early Life. — Labors. — Chai-acter. — Death. — George 
Gai-y. — Christian Experience. — Services. 

The New England Conference made the following appoint- 
ments, for the year 1809-10 : 

Boston District. Geo. Pickering, Presiding Elder. Lynn, 
William Stevens ; Marblehead, William Hunt ; Salisbury, Pop- 
lin, and Salem, Asa Kent, Edward Hyde, Daniel Wentworth ; 
Harwich, Joseph A. Merrill ; Falmouth, Erastus Otis ; Sandwich 
and Scituate, Joseph Snelling, Benjamin F. Lambord ; New 
Bedford, Nehemiah Coye ; Nantucket, Jordan Rexford ; Newport, 
Daniel Webb ; Bristol and Warre?i, Samuel Merwin ; Somer- 
set, Levi Walker; Easton and Norton, John Tinkham ; Boston, 
Elijah R. Sabin, Philip Hunger ; Portsmouth, John Brodhead, 
Alfred Metcalf, Isaac Scarrett. 

New London District. Elijah Hedding, Presiding Elder. 
Tolland, Benjamin P. Hill, William Hinman ; Ashburnham, 
David Carr, Robert Arnold ; Needham, Benjamin R. Hoyt, 
Nathan Hill ; Providence and Smithfield, Greenleaf R. Norris, 
Pliny Brett; East Greenwich, Theophilus Smith; Pomfret, Isaac 
Bonney, Samuel Cutler ; Neiv London, Elisha Streeter, John 
Lindsay. 

Vermont District. Thomas Branch, Presiding Elder. 
Athens, Solomon Sias ; Wethersjield, Samuel Thompson, Ste- 
phen Bailey; Barnard, Wie^iZdiX Wells; Ver shire, Joel Steel; 
Barre, Warren Banister, George Gary ; Danville, Nathaniel W. 
Stearns ; Stanstead, Squire Streeter. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 447 

New Hampshire District. Martin Ruter, Presiding Elder. 
Grantham^ Thomas Asbury, Paul Dustin ; Canaan, Ebenezer 
Blake ; Bridgewater, Leonard Frost ; Pembroke, Lewis Bates ; 
Tuftonhoro\ Benjamin Bishop, Amasa Taylor; Rochester, Heze- 
kiah Field ; Centre Harhor, Abner Clark ; Landaff, Joseph 
Peck ; Lunenburg, Benjamin Merrill. 

Portland District. Joshua Soule, Presiding Elder. Dur- 
ham, J. H. Hardy, J. Spalding, R. Hays ; Scarboro\ Enoch 
Jaques ; Falmouth, Joel Winch ; Conway, Philip Ayer ; Bethel, 
Joshua Randle ; Livermore, Charles Virgin ; Poland, Samuel 
Hillman; Portland, Epaphras Kibby. 

Kennebec District. Oliver Beale, Presiding Elder. Read- 
field, David Kilburn ; Norridgewoch, Jonathan Chaney ; Hal- 
lowell, Ebenezer F. Newell ; Yassalhoro\ John Wilkinson ; 
Union, John Williamson, Benjamin Jones ; Boothbay, Caleb 
Fogg ; Georgetown, Henry Hawkins ; Industry, Isaiah Emer- 
son ; Orrington, Joseph Baker ; Hampden, Zachariah Gibson ; 
Bristol, William Frost : Penobscot, David Stimson. 

The New England appointments of the New York Confer- 
ence were : 

AsHGRovE District. William Anson, Presiding Elder. 
Cambridge, M. B. Bull, William Swayze, S. Sornborger ; Bran- 
don, Francis Brown ; Charlotte, Andrew McKain, Marvin Rich- 
ardson ; Fletcher, Daniel Brumley, Oliver Sikes ; Dunham, 
Landsford Whiting; Grand Isle, John Robertson. 

Rhinebeck District. Aaron Hunt, Presiding Elder. Pitts- 
field, Elijah Woolsey, Phineas Cook; Whittingham, Samuel 
Cockrane ; Buckland, Lewis Pease ; Granville, Gershom Pearce, 
Robert Hibbard ; Litchfield, Laban Clark, Reuben Harris ; Pow- 
nxd, James M. Smith. On the New York district, under the 
care of Joseph Crawford, were. Redding, B. Hibbard and Isaac 
Candee ; Middletovm, N. W. Thomas, C. Carpenter. 

There were in New England, the present year, according to 
this list, eight districts and part of another, seventy-one circuits, 
and one hundred and seven preachers. There had been an 
increase of three circuits and four preachers. 

Among the appointments for the year is the name of Coles 



448 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

Carpenter, which is endeared to a large section of the church, 
by long and faithful services. But, notwithstanding his exten- 
sive travels, and a quarter of a century spent in ministerial 
labors, scarcely any facts of his history have been recorded, 
except in that higher registry which is kept in heaven, and to 
which the self-sacrificing men, whose lives we have endeavored 
humbly to commemorate, looked as their only record. Mr. Car- 
penter was born in Westchester County, N. Y., on the 17th of 
March, 1784, and received on probation at the New York Con- 
ference of the present year. His first appointment was in New 
England, — on the Middletown circuit, Ct. He subsequently 
occupied important stations and circuits in New England and 
New York till 1833, when he took charge of the Troy district. 
He exhibited immediately superior capacity for his new position, 
and " his labors were highly appreciated by his ministerial breth- 
ren ; " ^ but death suddenly summoned him to a higher sphere. 
He died of bilious colic, at Cambridge, N. Y., on the 17th of Feb- 
ruary, 1834. His end was with " the victory " which is "through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." He declared, in the agonies of dissolu- 
tion, that his faith in the vital and consolatory doctrines he had 
preached was unshaken : the terrors of death were gone ; his 
soul was sustained in a blessed composure, and his dying 
accents, uttered as his voice was failing, were, "Glory! glory! 
glory ! " His " works do follow " him, and his memory is 
precious in many hearts that love the appearing of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

Benjamin R. Hoyt still lingers, a venerable counsellor in the 
gates of our Zion. He was born in New Braintree, Worcester 
County, Mass., on the 6th of January, 1789. When about nine 
years old, his parents removed with him to Craftsbury, Vt., 
where he resided till his seventeenth year. There, in his 
fifteenth year, he was converted to God, through the instrument- 
ality of Phineas Peck, " of precious memory," he writes. Under 
Mr. Peck's labors, a revival of religion prevailed at this time in 
the neighborhood, which resulted in the organization of a Class 
in the adjacent town of Greensboro', of which Mr. Hoyt became 

* Minutes, 1834. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 449 

a member, as there was not yet a Methodist society in Crafts- 
bury. "At that time, the Danville circuit," he says, "extended 
over a tract of country which reached from Canada to Peacham, 
and included more than twenty towns. Throughout this exten- 
sive field young Peck travelled and preached with great suc- 
cess, and the foundation was laid for a permanent circuit, which 
has grown and flourished, until no less than fifteen charges or 
stations have been formed out of it. Indeed, the greater part of 
what is now called the Danville district was then included in 
the Danville circuit." "^ 

In the spring of 1807 he became a resident of Winchester, N. 
H. ; and here, under the counsels of Asa Kent and other circuit 
preachers, an impression that he was called of God to preach the 
word, but which he long resisted, was much deepened ; his per- 
sonal piety became more fervent ; he was appointed a Class 
Leader and an Exhorter, and in March of the following year 
Thomas Branch signed his license as a Local Preacher. On the 
first of August ensuing, he commenced Itinerating on Ashburn- 
ham circuit, under the direction of Elijah P. Sabin, the Presid- 
ing Elder of the district. He was subsequently transferred to the 
Needham circuit, of venerable memory. " While at Winchester," 
he writes, "and on the Ashburnham circuit, a number of souls 
were thought to have been converted through my feeble instru- 
mentality, which encouraged me much to persevere, under my 
infirmities, diffidence, and proneness to discouragement. I was 
much indebted to the kind sympathy of Christian friends at 
Winchester ; and on the circuit there were many who mani- 
fested an interest in my prosperity. Among the preachers were 
Asa Kent, E. P. Sabin, G. R. Norris. Among the member- 
ship on Needham circuit, I was under obligations to none more 
than to Mrs. Pickering, wife of Rev. George Pickering. She 
was in an eminent degree the safe counsellor of young men just 
beginning the work of the ministry. I have reason to thank 
God that I was favored with her Christian regards at the time 
when I so much needed them." 

He was received, the present year, as a probationer, at the New 

* Letter to the author, from which we derive our further facts respecting Mr. Hoyt. 

38^ 



450 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

England Conference, and returned to Needham circuit, with 
Nathan Hill and Elijah Willard (then a local preacher) as his 
colleagues. " During this year," he says, " we had some revival 
in several parts of the circuit, and about fifty were admitted 
to the society. Among the number was our benevolent and 
useful friend and brother, Lee Claflin. We had, besides our sea- 
sons of prosperity, some opposition. At one time, while attend- 
ing meeting at a friend's house in Hopkinton, two or three pre- 
tended young gentlemen very much disturbed us by kneeling 
down in mockery. While preaching, frequently chips and pieces 
of apples were flung about the congregation. At another time, 
while holding a Class at Mr. Stratton's, in Sherburne, several 
young and some middle-aged men came in and took their seats 
in a back part of the room. When 1 finished speaking to the mem- 
bers, I began to address them one by one, in as calm a manner 
as possible. The first, in reply, said he did not know who the 
Lord was, — he had never seen him; the second, that he was 
not happy, but should be when he got home, as he had a good 
spare-rib roasting ; the third, that the Bible was like a fiddle, on 
w^hich we could play any tune we might please. Thus they 
went on, till six or eight had been spoken to, when, having been 
reproved by another preacher present, they went away in a rage. 
Once, when I was preaching at Phineas Sawyer's dwelling, in 
Marlboro', a gun was fired off close by the window of the room 
where I was standing, which frightened the people very much ; 
however, we had a good meeting, and soon after organized a 
Class of seven members, which was the beginning of Methodism 
in that old town. In several other places we had more or less 
disturbance, but nothing compared to that experienced by Elijah 
R. Sabin and Thomas Asbury, when horns and trumpets were 
blown in the time of service ; when they were waylaid, &c. 
We were able to proceed through the year, and to preach in 
more than twenty different towns then embraced in the Need- 
ham circuit, extending from Dedham to Lunenburg, and from 
Westford to Milford." 

In 1810 he was appointed to Danville circuit, on which he 
had joined the church and received license as a local preacher. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 451 

A short time before the Conference, being on a visit to Crafts- 
bur j?-, Vt., one of his former neighbors — a professed Deist — 
called on him, and requested him to preach in the court-house. 
He consented, and had the privilege of preaching tvv^o very pow- 
erful sermons, to Congregationalists, Baptists and Universalists, 
— a large congregation. Much interest was excited. The 
next Sabbath he preached in Hard wick, to a great number. Dur- 
ing the services of that day, a powerful revival commenced ; 
thirty or more persons were struck under conviction before the 
afternoon sermon was closed ; and at a Class-meeting held on 
the same day, more than that number tarried, and communicated 
their determination to serve the Lord. " From that time till the 
Conference, we had," he writes, " as much as we could do. A 
number were baptized, a Class formed ; and it was the general 
impression that I ought to remain. Under these circumstances, 
I was appointed as above stated. David Kilburn was my fel- 
low-laborer on the circuit, and a good and faithful one he 
was. The work spread through Walden and Cabot, into the 
adjoining towns on that side of the circuit, and, on the other 
side, through Lyndon, Sutton (Billymead at that time), Curby, 
and Concord, so that we formed several Classes, and received 
more than one hundred and fifty into society. In attending to 
all the interests of this great circuit, we found work for every 
day of the week, Saturdays excepted, in preaching ; meeting 
Classes, once, twice, and sometimes even three times, in a single 
day ; visiting the sick both in body and mind, and the member- 
ship generally. When we left for the Conference, we felt that 
the blessing of God had been upon the people, and on our feeble 
labors." 

At the next Conference he was ordained a Deacon, by Asbury, 
and sent to Wethersfield circuit, Vt. In 1812 he was appointed 
to Barnard circuit, and in 1813 and 1814, Vershire, Vt. During 
the latter year, he attended the camp-meeting at Williamstown, 
mentioned in our sketch of Mr. Kilburn, which continued over the 
Sabbath on which the memorable battle of Lake Champlain was 
fought. " About the time," he writes, " it was expected the 
encounter would commence, Mr. Wells, the Presiding Elder, 



45^ MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

began the public exercises at the stand, and supplicated the 
throne of grace in a prayer of great faith and fervor. He prayed 
the God of battles that victory might crown the efforts and arms 
of the American forces. He wrestled with much might, Jacob- 
like ; and before he finished, he seemed to prevail, like Israel. 
The next day news came of the American success. While the 
battle was in progress, we could hear a distant, low, murmuring 
sound, and feel the trembling of the ground, caused by the can- 
nonade." 

In 1815 his appointment was at Bristol, R. I. ; in 1816, Harwich, 
Mass. ; and 1817 and 1818, New Bedford. Of the latter place he 
says : " It was through the influence and liberality of John Hawes, 
Esq., that they were enabled to erect a house of worship, and that 
the preachers were supported, from year to year. I found him and 
his family my constant friends, throughout my connection with 
that station. Fifty dollars a year was his cash contribution to 
the support of the preacher, besides many and repeated acts of 
kindness and attention, and private gifts. His influence was 
good in favor of experimental piety. With that of many others, 
his memory is exceedingly precious. During the year 1819 we 
rented a hall in New Bedford proper for worship, and there 
formed a Class of sixteen members. Here we held our third 
service on the Sabbath. It will be recollected that the original 
church was not in New Bedford, but Fairhaven, at the Head of 
the River. New Bedford, however, gave name to the station. 
This was the first step towards the rearing of so many flour- 
ishing churches and congregations in that city. Mr. Hawes 
defrayed the expense of hiring the hall, which proved to be 
the birthplace of souls. We formed a Class at Fairhaven, 
consisting of seven persons, and at the next Conference we were 
able to report eighty members in society, — an increase of thirty- 
eight in two years. Not a great number, but, as it afterwards 
turned out, substantial persons were among them." 

In 1819 and 1820 he was stationed in Boston. He gives us the 
following illustrations of the labors of the metropolitan appoint- 
ments of that day: "With regard to Quarterly Meetings, Boston 
was by itself; but with reference to ministerial interchange, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 453 

Charlesfown was connected with it on the Minutes. Wilbur Fisk 
was stationed at Charlestown this year. In Boston and Charles- 
town we had a membership of 494. For places of worship we 
had Bromfield-street church, the old North church, in Methodist 
Alley, and a seated room, in which Samuel Snowden preached to 
the people of color. Beside this, a school-house was rented for 
religious meetings, at Craigie's Point, East Cambridge. To 
supply all these places, we formed them into a circuit, and 
to the stationed preachers added a local preacher, by the 
name of William Granville. Our plan was something as 
follows : I, for instance, would preach on a Sabbath morning at 
Bromfield-street church ; meet a Class at noon, in the altar ; 
preach in the old North in the afternoon, and at Charlestown in 
the evening. Thus, by changing our course for the two suc- 
ceeding Sabbaths, the preachers were regularly presented to 
all the different congregations. We had, as will be perceived, 
plenty of work to do. Beside our studies, on week days, we 
had much pastoral labor to perform, two and three Classes per 
week to meet, two public prayer-meetings also to attend, &c. 
&c. For many Sabbaths I pursued the following plan of ser- 
vices : In the morning, sun-rise. Class at the old North church ; 
a Sunday-school at 9, a. m., in Bromfield-street church ; preach 
there in the forenoon ; meet a Class at the close of the sermon ; 
take refreshment ; meet the Sunday-school at the old North ; 
preach there in the afternoon ; hold a prayer-meeting, or preach, 
in the evening, and frequently attend a funeral, or marry one or 
more couple, during the day, which might seem to many a severe 
day's work. While in Boston, I shared many special favors, — 
found many kind-hearted friends in the church and congregation. 
There was a spirit of holiness among the membership existing 
to a greater degree than I have ever known elsewhere." 

In 1821 and 1822 he took charge of Lyndon circuit, Vt. 
" Judge Fisk's residence," he says, " was at Lyndon. Eev. 
Wilbur Fisk, his son, having received a superannuated relation, 
came home, and spent most of his time at Lyndon and vicinity, 
during this and the succeeding year, visiting occasionally the 
neighboring circuits. As his health slowly returned, he assisted 



454 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

on the Sabbaths, and the services rendered by him were highly- 
acceptable, for Mr. Fisk was not without honor in his own town 
and county. Lyndon had become at this time quite Methodized, 
through the instrumentality of the preachers who preceded me. 
Especially, however, was the prosperity I found on my arrival 
at L. to be attributed to the labors and influence of Eev. Phineas 
Peck, who had been located there for several years. Through his 
agency the largest church in town had been gathered. When 
I came, I found the influence of the town in favor of Meth- 
odism." 

The ensuing four years he superintended the New Hampshire 
district, and during this period there was a gain on the district 
of 889 members and nine chapels, besides two or three others 
which were projected, but not completed. 

In 1827 and 1828 he was appointed to Dover, N. H. ; in 
1829, Great Falls, N. H., where, during a protracted revival, 
228 persons were received into the Classes. In 1830 he was 
made Presiding Elder of Vermont district, and agent of the 
Wesleyan University. He travelled this district, at the rate of 
3000 miles a year, for four years. Methodist preachers still 
observed the rules of Wesley respecting the distribution of good 
books, and were effective colporteurs. " During these years," 
says Mr. Hoyt, " I sold to the preachers over five thousand dol- 
lars' worth of our books, mostly at wholesale prices. At one 
time, I went to New York and packed up about twelve hundred 
dollars' worth of them. I received the money for these, and for- 
warded the same to the agents at New York ; and if my recol- 
lection is correct, I never lost a shilling by all my transactions 
in the business of book-selling. There were many revivals on 
the district, and some years the increase was over five hundred ! 
though this does not so appear on the Minutes, owing to the 
changes made of circuits from one district to another." 

In 1834 and 1835 he was sent to Bradford circuit, Vt. ; 1836, 
Plymouth district, N. H., where he travelled during four years ; 
at the end of his term, he reported a gain of 1400 members. 
He was placed in charge of the Danville district in 1840, where 
be remained four years. In 1844 he was transferred to the 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 455 

Claremont district, and superintended it three years. In 1847 
he was sent to Haverhill ; 1848, East Salisbury, Mass. ; 1849 
and 1850, Greenland. 

Mr. Hoyt, though advanced in life, still continues in the effect- 
ive ranks of the ministry. He has done good service to the 
church, and has ever been a steadfast supporter of all its inter- 
ests. In periods of trial and public agitation, occasioned by 
Masonry, Slavery, Millerism and similar causes, he has occupied 
posts of great responsibility, and sustained them with admirable 
prudence and success. During the first four years of his minis- 
try, his receipts did not average $50 per year. The last twenty 
years they have not averaged over $300 per year ; and not so 
much the previous years of his Itinerancy. He has been sta- 
tioned seven years in Massachusetts, seventeen in Vermont, six- 
teen in New Hampshire, one in Rhode Island, besides three 
months on the Ashburnham and six months on the Needham 
circuits, under the direction of the Presiding Elder ; making, in 
all, nearly forty-two years. 

Mr. Hoyt has always been an acceptable and useful preacher. 
Amidst his early Itinerant labors, he found time to acquaint 
himself with the original languages of the Scriptures, and he has 
not fallen behind the progressive intelligence of his times. He 
has been thrice a delegate to the General Conference, and many 
years a Presiding Elder. His head is now hoary, but he retains 
much of his early vigor ; his frame is robust, and his features, 
alike with his conversation, expressive of benevolence and cheer- 
fulness. He is beloved in all the extensive sphere of his 
acquaintance, for his Christian excellences, the cordiality of his 
manners, a quiet humor and warm affections. 

John Lindsay is another fragrant name of these early times. 
He was born in Lynn, July 18th, 1788, and was converted to 
God in his nineteenth year, under the labors of Daniel Webb. 
Early in his religious history he gave evidence of good talents 
and future usefulness. He labored successfully as a local 
preacher in Lynn and its vicinity, and in 1808 his Presiding 
Elder called him out into the Itinerant field. The New Eng- 
land Conference of the present year received him as one of its 



456 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

most hopeful candidates, and appointed him to New London cir- 
cuit. His friend and fellow-laborer, the late and beloved Thomas 
C. Pierce, furnished us, not long before his death, with the follow- 
ing account of Mr. Lindsay's early labors : " The Minutes show 
that his first appointments were Somerset, Portsmouth, Portland, 
Falmouth and Nantucket. In those days these were some of 
our very best appointments, — they were stations, not circuits, 
— and for a young man to fill them shows that even in his ear- 
liest days in the ministry he was highly estimated by his breth- 
ren. I can say that he filled all of these appointments success- 
fully, and, as far as I can remember, his reputation as a minister 
was very good. After this, his love of the Itinerancy led him 
to solicit a circuit. Accordingly, he was appointed to that of 
Needham ; there he remained one year. The following year he 
was appointed Presiding Elder of Vermont district, where a 
wider field of usefulness was opened before him. A revival 
commenced in a female prayer-meeting in Barre, and soon the 
whole district was in a blaze. He was universally beloved by 
his preachers, — I knew of no exception. I can remember con- 
versations with him when the sacrifices of an Itinerant were 
pressing hard upon him ; for oh ! he fondly loved his home, and 
no man could be happier in the domestic circle than he." 

He sustained, with decided ability, during his first nine years 
in the ministry, appointments in every one of the New England 
States. After thus laboring in the most important charges of 
his Conference, he acted as agent of the Wesleyan University 
two years, 1835-6. In 1837 he was transferred to the New 
York Conference, and stationed successively on New Haven dis- 
trict, and at Forsythe-street and Second-street, in the city of 
New York. In 1842 he was agent for the American Bible 
Society, and in 1843-4 he was stationed at Poughkeepsie. In 
1845 he was transferred to the Troy Conference, and stationed 
at the Garrettson church, in the city of Albany. In 1846 he was 
appointed to the Albany district, where he closed his life and 
labors near the end of his fourth year. He died at his resi- 
dence in Schenectady, on Wednesday, February 20, lamented 
by all good men who knew him, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 457 

His remains have been interred in Lynn, where several of his 
early fellow-Itinerants sleep around him. One from whom we 
have already quoted, but who now rests there with him, thus 
\vrrote of his character : " He was all his life a man of great 
power with God in prayer. Once at my house, during family 
prayers, my wife, who sat holding an infant upon her lap, after- 
wards remarked to me that Mr. Lindsay's countenance shone 
while he was praying. In early life he became the intimate 
and well-beloved friend of Dr. Fisk, and he sympathized deeply 
with him in the wants of the church. For the cause of educa- 
tion he willingly made great sacrifices, travelling at his own 
expense, and laboring in any way that he might promote the 
great work of education among the ministry. He was emi- 
nently, all his life, a man of great liberality of mind. I never 
knew him guilty of a selfish action. He did not live for himself; 
he lived for the good of the church. The interests of the whole 
Christian world lay near his heart. He was one of the first to 
feel the great importance of the Temperance cause, and was not 
afraid to identify himself with this great reform, even when the 
good all around him were slow to acknowledge its claims. His 
person was robust, his appearance gentlemanly ; his health was 
uniformly good, and he was inclined to be laborious. He made 
visible improvement, and was always considered a good preacher, 
and, by many, a great one. He labored in the Itinerant field 
forty years, filling the most prominent places. His style as a 
preacher was elevated and pure. Who ever heard him use a 
vulgar or improper word ? He had a clear head, — a sound, argu- 
mentative mind. He was, during his whole life, eminently a 
man of faith in God, and in his providential care of his crea- 
tures. I remember his charge to his brethren on the district 
was, * Do your duty, and God will take care of you.' " 

Sanctification, as taught by Methodists, was a favorite theme 
with him. He was anxious that this higher form of Christian 
experience should be more distinctly comprehended, and more 
generally preached and experienced in the church. He spoke 
of it with the usual interest of our earlier preachers on the sub- 
ject. " It is impossible," he would remark, " to calculate what 
39 



458 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

a momentum would be given to the work of God, were all his 
people holy, blameless and undefiled." He knew the moral sup- 
port and power of this doctrine by his own experience, and "his 
life," writes one, " was a beautiful testimony in favor of holiness 
of heart." 

It was our happiness to know this sainted man intimately, and 
to reside many months in his household ; — we can testify that 
these eulogies are not exaggerated. There was a loveliness, 
a sanctity, in his religious character, that gave an almost super- 
human charm to his presence, and procured for him, in familiar 
conversation, the soubriquet of " Saint John." A youthful 
friend speaks of him as follows, in a private letter : "Long shall 
I remember the many earnest, affectionate lessons he taught me, 
adapting himself to my childishness, strewing flowers all along 
the paths of religion, leading me to realize, as no other person 
ever did, that ' her ways are ways of pleasantness,' and making 
it seem so possible, and so easy withal, to have faith in God. 
When I was a child, my love for him amounted to veneration ; 
and, afterwards, I found my childish love and veneration grow- 
ing deeper and stronger. Never shall I forget the pleasant 
hours I spent during our quiet rides about Schenectady. His 
quick perception of the beautiful in nature, — from the pebble 
by the wayside to the bird flying skyward, — everything spoke 
to him of God. It seemed to me that he could look right into 
heaven, so vivid were his conceptions of the ' kingdom to come.' 
Do you wonder that I had high and holy resolves, and that I felt 
my faith had grown purer and stronger ? " 

His death was accompanied with much suffering, but equal 
resignation. " During the latter part of his third year on the 
Albany district, he was quite unwell ; but, with his characteristic 
energy, he kept at work till within two or three months of the 
Conference, when he was violently attacked by a complaint of 
the kidneys. It was considered doubtful whether he would 
recover from this attack; but he rallied again, went to Confer- 
ence, and from Conference to his work, with his accustomed 
cheerfulness and zeal. His old malady, however, soon returned, 
SQ that, after the close of September, 1849, he was never able to 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 459 

resume his official duties, though he fondly hoped to do so until 
within a few days of his decease." A member of the family 
writes thus respecting the closing scene : "During my father's 
last illness, he received great support under his sufferings, and 
w^ould often speak of the Divine manifestations to his soul. The 
last night of his life, he remarked to a lady near him, ' There is 
something above pain.'' In his last mortal agony, he said, with 
holy assurance, ' The Lord will help me.'' Help came from 
above. He who ' giveth his beloved sleep ' was with him. The 
light of God's countenance shone on him, — a blissful smile 
lighted up his face, — he was at rest." ^ 

His youngest daughter writes us : " During his last sickness 
he would speak to us of the fulness and sufficiency there was in 
the Saviour, and repeat, ' What a fulness!' When we inquired 
of him how he had passed the night, he said, 'I never have a poor 
night ; my nights are all just as my Heavenly Father sees fit to 
give me.' The promise, ' Lo, I am with you always,' was 
sweetly verified unto him." 

George Gary is known to the church generally, by long and 
faithful services in the ministry, as also by his special connection 
with our Oregon mission. He was born December 8, 1793, in 
Middlefield, Otsego County, N. Y. His parents were from 
Windham County, Connecticut. After the death of his mother, 
which occurred when he was about two years old, his father 
returned with him to the old Gary neighborhood in Pomfret, the 
place of his own nativity. In this town George remained until 
he entered the Itinerant ministry. He frequently heard his 
father and others talk of the circuit preachers who had visited 
his dying mother in the new country, in New York. In these 
conversations, he learned, with great delight, that his mother 
died in peace, and with a blessed hope of the life to come, 
through the instrumentality of the Methodist preachers. These 
accounts left a permanent impression upon his young heart, an 
impression which was marked with a veneration for Methodist 
preachers, and a tender conscience for sacred things. He was 
never known to use profane language, and his conscience 

* Minutes, 1850. 



460 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

was always sensitive to religious impressions. In the sum- 
mer after he was thirteen years old, he commenced a praying 
life, though the fact was unknown to any one but his Heavenly 
Father and himself. These seasons of prayer were frequent 
and somewhat regular, though they were attended with but little 
relief to his awakened mind. " He saw and felt himself to be a 
sinner, — a sinner exposed to the perdition of the ungodly. On 
the evening of the 7th of December, 1807, under the ministry 
of the memorable Elijah R. Sabin, in the memorable house of 
the late Noah Perrin, in Pomfret, near the Quinabaug river, he 
saw his way to Christ Jesus ; and in the prayer-meeting after 
sermon, he found relief, great relief, to his burdened and 
troubled spirit. This was in the evening of the day before he 
was fourteen years old." ^ 

Religion made a very visible impression upon his character 
and life, notwithstanding his previous uprightness. He was 
made " luise unto salvation," and the great propriety and pru- 
dence of his daily walk secured general influence to his reli- 
gious professions. The Lord had chosen him for himself, and 
early designated him to the work of the ministry. In the month 
of March, 1808, he received his first impressions upon the sub- 
ject. These were attended with a painful struggle of mind. The 
conflict lasted months, without his saying anything to any one, 
or any one saying anything to him, upon the question. His 
mind settled upon the purpose to do his duty as the door opened 
before him. A frequent perusal of Jeremiah 1 : 7 — 9 aided 
him very essentially in determining upon this purpose. In De- 
cember, 1808, about the time he was fifteen years of age, E. R. 
Sabin, his Presiding Elder, sought frequent interviews with him, 
and gave him appropriate counsels from time to time ; and under 
his directions young Gary commenced holding meetings. He 
thus found himself preaching. In the spring of 1809 Sabin 
took him to sundry places on his district, at which he occasion- 
ally exhorted, and more than once formally preached. In the 
month of May, at the last Quarterly Meeting for the Conference 
year on Pomfret circuit, he was licensed to preach, and also 

* LeUer to the author. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 461 

recommended to the New England Annual Conference, as a 
suitable person to be admitted into the travelling connection ; 
and within a very few days of the time he was fifteen years and 
a half old, his name was on the records of an Annual Confer- 
ence as a travelling preacher, — the youngest candidate ever 
received in the M. E. church. 

He was sent to the Barre circuit, Vt. Equipped with horse 
and saddle-bags, — the customary outfit of the primitive Metho- 
dist preacher, — the young Itinerant started alone, on a journey 
of nearly two hundred miles, to his field of labor. As he 
mounted his horse, an uncle, who was a Methodist, and an acute 
judge of human nature, gave him some sagacious counsels, one 
of which he never forgot. " Never," said he, " pretend that you 
know much, George ; for, if you do so pretend, the people will soon 
find out that you are sadly mistaken : neither tell them how little 
you know, for this they will find out soon enough." As he 
urged his way to the north, he dropped many a tear at the recol- 
lection of his home, and the anticipation of what was before him. 
When he arrived on his circuit, it seemed hardly credible to the 
people that one so young could have been sent as their preacher; 
he had, however, the invariable symbols of the offi.ce, — the 
horse and saddle-bags ; these could hardly be doubted, and 
soon his youth, instead of being an objection, became, in connec- 
tion with his piety and rare good sense, an attraction to the mul- 
titude. The people thronged to his appointments. "In my 
Presiding Elder, Thomas Branch," he writes, " I had just the 
friend, counsellor and father, I needed. Mr. Branch was affable, 
tender-hearted, kind to the timid and young, — a model Metho- 
dist preacher, and made a happy impression upon my mind in 
the beginning of my ministry." 

He attended the Conference of 1810. Asbury and McKendree 
looked upon him with surprise, for they had never before seen one 
so young venture into the conflicts of the Itinerant field. Asbury 
approached him, and placing his hands on the young evangelist's 
head, blessed him in the name of the Lord. " We cannot," said 
the venerable apostle, " we cannot promise you ease, nor honor, 
nor money ; but work enough while you live, and the crown of 
39^ 



MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

life when you die." His appointment was Union circuit, Me. 
At the Conference of 1811, he was ordained a Deacon, by 
Asbury, and sent to Orrington, Me. This was a laborious 
" three-weeks' circuit," but he found an excellent counsellor and 
helper in Enoch Mudge, who then resided in Orrington. " In 
this great and good man," he writes, " I found one of the fairest 
and best samples of a Methodist preacher. With this model 
before me very often (for I was with him a great deal), I was 
highly favored. No man ever helped me more, in giving me 
just views of arranging and connecting the parts of a sermon, 
and of understanding the sacred text, taking into account the 
context and parallel passages, &c. &c., than this venerable 
preacher, who now sleeps with the just. If there be in me any 
valuable traits as a Methodist minister, under God, the timely 
aid and influence of this father in the Gospel had a hand in 
moulding them." 

In 1812 his appointment was Georgetown and Boothbay, near 
the mouth of the Kennebec. In 1813 he was transferred, at his 
own request, to the Genesee Conference, within which his 
father then resided. " In a short time," he writes, " I was on 
my horse, directing my course to the west, as it was then called. 
In due season I arrived at my father's residence, and the place 
of my own nativity. Here I visited the grave of my mother. I 
stood there a Methodist Itinerant, over the beloved dust of her 
who had been instructed and led to Christ by the first pioneers 
of Methodism in this new country. I felt it a privilege to be a 
Methodist preacher, out of gratitude to God for the grace 
bestowed upon her, in her decline to the grave.** 

He now disappears from the geographical limits of our narra- 
tive, but his subsequent services will occupy an important place 
in the general history of the church. When he went to the 
" Genesee country," Methodism was yet in its infancy there. 
It has since spread into bands, — into new Districts, and even 
new Conferences. Perhaps its present most fertile field in the 
United States is that section of New York. The labors of Mr. 
Gary for forty years have had no unimportant agency in its 
prosperity. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 463 

He has acted as a delegate in several General Conferences, been 
Presiding Elder repeatedly, and spent some time as commissioner 
for the reorganization of our Oregon mission. In all of these, as 
in all other responsibilities intrusted to him by the church, he nas 
shown himself the conscientious, the energetic, the wise man. 
His head is now hoary with years and toils spent in the cause 
of his Lord, but he still continues to labor effectively in the Itin- 
erant field. His exceeding prudence, benignity of temper, and 
unblemished Christian integrity, have endeared him to the 
church which he has so long and so faithfully served. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 

Amasa Taylor. — Travels. — Benjamin Jones. — Appointments. — Death. — Character. — 
Ebenezer F. Newell. — Eai'ly History. — Travels. — Incidents. — Edward Hyde. — Enters 
the Itinerancy. — Appointments. — Character. — Triumphant Death. 

Amasa Taylor was born July 9th, 1787, in Fitchburg, Mass., 
from which place he removed, about his eighth year, to Lunen- 
burg, where he resided in the family of Capt. William Jones, — 
" a family of blessed memory," he writes."^ His early religious 
education was not remarkably strict. He was accustomed, how- 
ever, to attend public worship on the Sabbath ; but " the minister 
and the church were what would now be called Unitarians, 
though not then so distinguished. Neither minister nor church 
made any pretensions to experimental religion. Capt. Jones 
and his wife experienced religion a short time after I made a 
profession, so that I had but little, if any, religious instruction in 
my youthful days. Nevertheless, I was a child of much con- 
viction and serious reflection, from my eighth to my fourteenth 
year. I can remember having many deep and serious thoughts 
about a future state, and what would finally become of me. I 
felt I was a sinner against God, and often tried to pray, but had 
no one to instruct me. These impressions gradually wore off, 
as I began to mingle in society, though I never indulged in pro- 
fanity, or anything I thought to be sinful." 

The autumn after his sixteenth year is memorable to him as 
the first time in which he heard the Gospel preached by a 
Methodist Itinerant. " The first Me!hodist preacher," he says, 
" who visited Lunenburg, was Joshua Crowell, who is yet living 

* Letter to the author, from which we derive our further information respecting Mr. 
Taylor. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 465 

in Ware, Mass. He was then a young man, and full of faith 
and love. His zealous, powerful mode of preaching was some- 
thing new, and his word took effect. A number of souls were 
awakened under his first sermon. His first visit, I believe, was 
in August ; but such were the clamor and false reports, that but 
few dared to hear him. One of those awakened under his first 
sermon was Barzillai Pierce, who was for years a powerful 
preacher, but is now dead. I think it was in the following 
November that I heard him for the first time. I was convinced 
of the truth of the doctrine he preached, and that very evening 
I formed the purpose to seek and serve God, which I trust I 
have never abandoned wholly, from that time to the present." 

Mr. Taylor's religious experience was not attended by those 
extraordinary and demonstrative evidences which we have so 
frequently recorded in other instances. " I had," he writes, *' at 
this time but little of the fear of hell or sense of God's wrath. I 
was led along gradually into, as I hope, the knowledge and love 
of the truth. It has been a subject of great trial to me, that I 
could not give a clearer testimony of Christian experience. I 
often prayed as earnestly for conviction as I ever did for any- 
thing; frequently, when I have heard others tell of their deep 
convictions and sense of condemnation and horror, and their 
clear and sudden emergence into the blaze of Gospel light, I 
have almost despaired of having any part or lot in the matter. 
But, after all, I believe I love God and his people, — I love his 
cause and his work. I made a profession the spring following 
Mr. Cro well's visit, and was received by him into the little Class. 
I often found great comfort in trying to bear the cross of Christ. 
In those early days of Methodism, we had to encounter a flood 
of opposition and slander." 

In the course of time he began, in company with Barzillai 
Pierce, to hold prayer-meetings, not only in Lunenburg, but in 
several neighboring towns, as was the custom with Methodist 
laymen in those days. At the age of eighteen, he began to feel 
that he was called to labor more extensively for his Lord ; but 
various hindrances kept him back till the spring of 1809, 
" when," he writes, " I was brought to that point that 1 dare not 



466 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

resist longer; I therefore yielded to what I thought a call to 
preach Christ and him crucified. I commenced in April, 1809, 
under the Presiding Elder, Elijah R. Sabin, on Ashburnham 
circuit, which I travelled three months, in the midst of my old 
brethren. This was a very heavy cross, but God gave me 
strength and blessed me." In June of that year, he was received 
into the New England Conference, and appointed to Tuftonboro' 
circuit. Me., Benjamin Bishop being his senior preacher, and 
Martin Ruter, Presiding Elder. This circuit had appointments 
in sixteen or seventeen towns. " Our labors," he says, " were 
hard, but God gave us some souls as our hire, though the people 
gave us but little. All the salary we both received fell short of 
fifty dollars. Our labors were not then for dollars, but for souls. 
Some of our brethren on this circuit that year had their cows 
taken to pay their 'minister tax' to the standing order, so called." 
In 1810 he was sent to Lunenburg circuit, Vt. It extended 
from Lunenburg, Vt., to Hariford, in Canada, on each side of 
Connecticut river. It was then called the " young preacher's 
college." There had been great opposition to the Methodists in 
many parts of it ; some of them had been mobbed and threatened 
with public whippings. " But God gave me favor," writes Mr. 
Taylor, " in the sight of the people, and a very gracious revival. 
It was, in fact, one of the best years of my ministry." In 1811 
he attended the Conference at Barnard, Vt. ; was ordained Dea- 
con, by Bishop Asbury, and appointed to Athens circuit, Vt. 
" Here I labored alone," he writes; "and yet not alone, for God 
was with me, and we had some gracious visitations, and a good 
share of opposition, — some threats of open violence, but the 
Lord defended and delivered us." In 1812 he was sent to 
Union circuit. Me. This was not a year of great prosperity, 
owing to the public excitement of the war with England. In 
1813 he was ordained Elder by Bishop M'Kendree, and 
appointed to Hampden circuit, on the Penobscot river, where he 
was alone, " and had," he writes, " some of my hardest conflicts 
and travels ; but God was good, and gave me one of the greatest 
revivals I have ever had. About one hundred converts were 
received on probation, and nearly the same number joined the 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 467 

Freewill Baptist church, though we were greatly afflicted by the 
war, and many families were near starvation." 

In 1814 he travelled Danville circuit, Vt., with Shipley W. 
Wilson as colleague. " We had hard times," he says, " the 
circuit being near the line of Canada, and the war still raging; 
smuggling, fighting and backsliding, were the order of the day. 
Mr. Wilson was a good young man, full of zeal ; and we labored 
hard, but came off with a decrease of seventy-five members. The 
war ceasing in the winter of this Conference year, he left me and 
went into Canada, to look up and gather the scattered sheep 
there." 

His subsequent appointments were, in 1815, Vershire, Vt. ; 
1816, Wethersfield, Vt. ; 1817, Barnard, Vt. ; 1818, Unity, N. 
H. ; 1819 and 1820, Ashburnham, Mass., where he began his 
labors. The next year he located, but continued during three 
years to perform continual services for the church in the vicinity 
of his residence, and formed the first Class in the town of New 
Salem, Mass., where he now lives. In 1824 he resumed his 
travels on Winchester circuit, N. H. He introduced Methodism 
this year into Winchester, and founded the society there. In 
1825 and 1826 he was appointed to Hebron circuit, Ct. ; 1827 
and 1828, Norwich, Ct. ; 1829 and 1830, Warwick, R. I. ; 
1831 and 1832, Northbridge ; 1833 and 1834, Belchertown ; 
1835, Ludlow; 1836 and 1837, Feeding Hills and Southwick; 
1838, South Brookfield ; 1839 and 1840, Worthington ; 1841 
and 1842, Athol ; 1843, South Orange and Dana ; 1844, Charle- 
mont, and 1845, West Brookfield, — all in Massachusetts. In 
1846 he retired into the superannuated ranks, where he still 
remains, venerated for his long and faithful services, the trans- 
parent purity of his character, the gentleness of his manners, and 
the modest worth which has characterized his whole history. 

He writes from his retreat in New Salem : "I am still trying 
to serve God in my humble sphere. I have a little home here 
to put my head in from the storm, for which my companion and 
myself have labored hard, and for which I am greatly indebted 
to grace. It is now forty-one years since I joined the Itinerant 
band. During thirty-three of them I received appointments 



468 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

from the Conference, and through thirty-one of them I have had 
charge of circuits, most of which were large, requiring much and 
hard labor. I have had to preach as often as once every day, 
the year round, besides Class-meetings, prayer-meetings and 
other labors. I yet p'reach, occasionally, funeral sermons, and 
about half of the time on the Sabbaths. When I commenced 
travelling, our circuits were large, the Methodists few and far 
apart, poor and despised. I have often known what it was to suf- 
fer want of food and raiment. When I started from my first circuit 
to go to my second, one hundred miles, and all the way among 
strangers, I had about two dollars to pay my expenses. In those 
first years I thought myself well used if I received fifty dollars, 
including everything ; for we knew no presents then, — all gifts 
were reckoned and credited in our accounts. I am now in my 
rest, daily admonished that my days are fast numbering; and I 
hope, in the end, to find the better rest of God's dear people." 

Benjamin Jones, well remembered and well beloved in Maine, 
was born in Sandwich, Mass., July 28, 1786. In a manuscript 
fragment, left among his papers, and written, probably, more than 
forty years since, he gives the following account of his early Chris- 
tian experience : " When I was about eleven years of age, I was 
sent away from home to live with a farmer who resided a few 
miles distant. About this time, Jesse Lee came into the neigh- 
borhood, and preached in the Congregational meeting-house. 
Soon there was much said concerning ' the Methodists.' A por- 
tion of the people, having embraced his (Mr. Lee's) sentiments, 
sent and obtained a Methodist preacher, by the name of Joshua 
HalL=^ The Lord blessed his labors to the conversion of many 
souls, and a society was formed. # =^ I was convinced of my 
need of a Saviour, and sought the Lord, for a while, in secret 
prayer; but having none to instruct me, and living some distance 
from the meeting, I soon grew careless, and found that 'sinning 
would make me leave praying.' When I was seventeen years 

*Mr. Hall is still living, in Frankfort, Me. "His mental eye is not dimmed, nor la 
his moral strength or influence aUated. Though approaching to ninety years of age, he 
preaches with much power and acceptance nearly every Sabbath." — Letter of Rev, 
Mr. Mansfield, 



CONTINUED. 469 

of age, my attention was again awakened, by the death of my 
best beloved brother, who was killed by a fall from mast-head. 
The day it occurred being Saturday, I had thought much of 
the comfort I should take with him when I went home to spend 
the Sabbath. But, alas ! I found him a corpse ! As I followed 
him to the grave, the next day, I felt my need of religion, to pre- 
pare me for death, judgment and eternity ! Two years after- 
ward, in the spring of 1805, the Spirit of God once more oper- 
ated with power upon my stubborn heart. My sins pressed 
heavily upon me, and the thought that I should have to give an 
account at the bar of God for all that I had done was more than 
I could bear. I resolved, in the strength of the Lord, at once to 
forsake all my sins, and to seek Him with all my heart. And 
if I did not find him, I was still resolved to perish pleading for 
mercy. One promise gave me some hope, — ' But if the wicked 
will tarn from all his sins, and do that which is lawful and 
right, he shall surely live, — he shall not die.'" Ezek. IS: 21. 

" The result of these exercises," writes one who knew him 
intimately,^ " was a most decided conversion, and a call to 
preach the Gospel. His struggles and anxieties relative to this 
duty are known only to himself and to God." 

At the age of twenty-two he yielded to his convictions, and 
began to labor in public as a local preacher; and in 1809 he was 
received into the New England Conference, and appointed to 
Union circuit, which then embraced most of the present Thom- 
aston district. 

"Having arrived at Union," writes Mr. Mansfield, "he 
* started to go round his first circuit for the first time,' July 14, 
1809. He appears to have had the most humbling views of 
himself. The * burden of the Lord ' is upon him. He trembles 
at his responsibilities, and preaches not himself, but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified. He goes forth weeping, but he bears 
precious seed. He covers it with many prayers, and waters it 
with many tears. It springs up, and brings forth fruit to the 
glory of God. During his first year in the Conference, he gave 
the most unquestionable proof of his call to the ministry. Souls 

*Rev. D. H. Mansfield, Me. 

40 



470 MEMORIALS OP METHODISM. 

were awakened and converted under his labors. And if ' he 
that winneth souls is wise,' then was this young Methodist Itin- 
erant ' a workman that needed not to be ashamed.' Of the few 
* brethren ' whose godly tents dotted the eastern wilderness at 
that time, and were a -refuge from the storm to the advance 
guard of Christ's spreading kingdom, he mentions the names of 
Fletcher and Young, in Lincolnville, Barrett, in Camden, Pea- 
body, in Warren, Whitcomb, in Hope, &c., &c." 

He thus began his prolonged labors and sufferings, in the most 
difficult part of the Itinerant field of that day. All his appoint- 
ments were in Maine. The following is the long and significant 
list of them : In 1810 he was designated to Penobscot circuit, 
which then included a large portion of the territory now 
embraced in the East Maine Conference. In 1811 he was 
admitted to Deacon's orders, at a session of the New England 
Conference, held in Barnard, Vt., June 20th, and appointed to 
Norridgewock ; 1812 he was at Livermore ; 1813, he was 
elected and ordained Elder, and appointed to Bethel ; 1814, at 
Hampden ; 1815, Union ; 1816, Union and Hampden ; 1817, 
Orrington and Penobscot ; 1818, Hallo well ; 1819, Unity. In 
1820, at a Conference held in Nantucket, Mass., Kennebec dis- 
trict was divided, and he was appointed Presiding Elder of Pe- 
nobscot district, which office he honored for four years. At this 
period of his ministry, and for several succeeding years, he was 
considered one of the ablest, as he was undoubtedly one of the 
most popular, preachers in New England ; 1824, he was at 
Pittston ; 1825, at the first session of the Maine Conference, held 
at Gardiner, he was sent to Bristol ; 1826 and 1827, Vas- 
salboro'; 1828, Fairfield. In 1829 he was made supernumer- 
ary, and appointed to Searsmont. "It was daring this year," 
says Mr. Mansfield, " that I first became personally acquainted 
with him, and, with nine others of my father's family, was con- 
verted to God under his labors. Never, before that time, had I 
heard the Gospel in its power and fulness. Never, since that 
time, have I heard more effective preaching from any man." 

In 1830 he was made effective, and appointed to Bucksport 
and Orrington ; 1831, Orrington; 1832, he was elected a dele- 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 471 

gate to the General Conference at Philadelphia, and appointed 
to Bristol ; 1833, Union ; 1834, Northport ; 1835, Belfast and 
Prospect ; 1836, elected a delegate to the General Conference 
at Baltimore, and appointed to Friendship ; 1837, Friendship ; 
1838, Camden and Northport ; 1839, Searsmont, Camden and 
Vinalhaven; 1840, Searsmont ; 1841, Monroe ; 1842 and 1843, 
Lincolnville ; 1844, Washington ; 1845, he was made supernu- 
merary, and appointed to Lincolnville. 

In 1846 he honorably retired into the ranks of his superannu- 
ated brethren. He ceased not to labor, however, until within a 
short time of his death. His last sermon was at Palermo, where 
he was attacked with his final illness, and returned to his home 
to die. " The disease which closed his earthly pilgrimage was," 
writes Mr. Mansfield, "an affection of the heart. During a long 
and severe illness, the grace of God more than prevented a mur- 
mur — made him more than resigned. He blessed the Lord for 
all his afflictions. As he drew near to death he was much 
engaged in prayer. A short time before he breathed his last, he 
requested to be raised in his bed, when, being supported by two 
persons, he uttered a most affecting prayer, which was his last 
outward act of devotion to God. When too feeble to rise, he 
gave utterance to the deep feelings of his heart, by repeating 
again and again, ' Bless the Lord ! ' The last audible whisper 
heard by mortal ears was ' Glory ! glory ! ' The ' weary 
wheels of life stood still ! ' — and Father Jones, having preached 
the glorious Gospel of the blessed God with remarkable success 
for FORTY-TWO years on earth, was * transferred ' to the General 
Assembly of the church triumphant, on the 18th of July, 1850, 
and appointed to a goodly station among the patriarchs, prophets 
and apostles, in heaven." 

Benjamin Jones was no ordinary man. It is doubted whether 
any one of his brethren who survive him in the Eastern States has 
witnessed more conversions as the results of his labors. Keviv- 
als almost invariably attended his preaching. He had great 
accuracy and power in the delineation of moral character, and 
resistless force in the application of his discourses. Hardened 
men would often sit spell-bound and trembling under his word, 



472 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

or, if able to move, would flee from the presence of the power- 
ful man of God. Our correspondent already quoted says : " He 
was decided in his opinions and unmistakable in his positions — 
always sincere, always in earnest. His punctuality had passed 
into a proverb. If a stoTm occurred at the time of any of his 
appointments and caused some to doubt that ' the minister' would 
come, even the careless unconverted, who knew him, would imme- 
diately correct them by saying, ' It is Elder Jones' appointment; 
if he is alive, he will certainly be here.'' The hills and valleys, and 
mountains and rivers, of Maine, have borne testimony to his toils 
and faithfulness, in storm and sunshine, for more than forty 
years ; and her deep forests and silent glens have witnessed his 
tears and echoed to his prayers for the conversion and salvation 
of her people. If I could have the privilege of hearing but one 
more sermon during my probation on earth, and he were still 
alive, I would choose that he should be the preacher." 

The venerable Ebenezer F. Newell has been frequently 
referred to in the foregoing pages, and so characteristic is eve- 
rything from his pen, that the reader must already enjoy a 
familiar acquaintance with him. He was born in North Brook- 
field, Mass., Sept. 1st, 1775. His strict moral education led 
him to early religious habits, and almost from his infancy his 
mind was addicted to serious meditation and prayer. As he 
advanced in youth, infidel speculations swayed his opinions and 
led him into irreligious habits ; but on visiting the province of 
New Brunswick, in 1799, he became acquainted with Rev. Mr. 
McCall, noted in the history of Methodism in that part of the 
continent. His conversations with this good man resuscitated 
his early impressions. " Conviction," he writes, " began to affect 
my mind. The dark clouds of error which had hung over me 
seemed to be breaking. The remembrance of several deaths 
which had occurred, attended with some remarkable and affect- 
ing circumstances, served to fix my mind upon the subject, and 
to lead me in a train of solemn and heart-searching reflections." 
These anxieties deepened profoundly. " I read and prayed," he 
says, " until a late hour at night, while others slept, fearing that 
if I went to sleep I might wake in hell, no more to sleep, or 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 473 

rest, forever ! Glimmering hopes and gloomy fears alternately 
hung o'er my head. I clung to the Bible as my only chart and 
guiding star ; to none but God could I go for help. At this time I 
was a constant attendant on the preaching of Rev. D. McCall. His 
preaching was clear and forcible, although his doctrine was new 
to me, who had been bred up under the Calvinistic creed. I 
now. saw clearly that my infidelity was the legitimate fruit of 
Calvinistic fatality and decrees ! This man of God pointed out 
my errors clearly to my mind, and I saw his doctrine was in 
accordance with the plain teaching of the Holy Scriptures ; I 
therefore exchanged the doctrine of decrees for that of free moral 
agency and accountability. My blind, cheerless, and dark sen- 
timent of no future state of conscious existence, fled before the 
cheering light and truth of the doctrine of the resurrection of 
the dead and the immortality of the soul ! Also, of a future 
judgment, and rewards for the righteous and wicked according 
to the deeds done in the body. I did not, at this time, think 
myself a Christian; but could say, I will serve God at the expense 
of all things ! My sentiment was. Let my name be written in 
the Lamb's book of Life, and I care not what the world does 
with it; they may frown or flatter, — by the grace of God I will 
seek to lay up treasures above." 

His evidence of acceptance with God soon became clearer, and 
at last settled into the steadfast and serene "assurance" of faith. 
He subsequently resided at Castine, Maine, and was here much 
confirmed in his Christian experience by the ministrations of 
the Methodist Itinerants, who were then proclaiming the word 
of life in that part of New England. Here, also, he began to 
labor somewhat in public, by holding prayer-meetings, which 
were instrumental in spreading a deeper piety in the vicinity. 

In 1802 he removed to Pembroke, N. H. At this time he 
was led into a deeper experience of the things of God. " One 
day," he says, " when on my knees in prayer, I had such a view 
of my unsanctified nature that it greatly alarmed me ; restless 
and unhallowed propensities cried aloud for gratification. My 
first thoughts were, to leave the throne of grace, fearing it was 
an abomination to God to appear there with such a heart ! But 
40# 



474 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

it seemed, if I left the throne, that I should yield to the first 
tempiation I met. Here my affrighted heart said, All my pre- 
tensions to religion are vain ; and I was on the point of giving it 
up, when this promise, ' He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's 
soap ; and he shall sit a^ a refiner and purifier of silver,' &c., 
relieved my mind. Before the increasing light of Bible promises 
all my doubts fled ; my soul, filled with peace, joy, and love, 
sank down into the vale of meekness, and rested upon the prom- 
ises of God as upon a rock that never sinks, exulting in the 
lively hope of being prepared by the purifying flame of the 
Divine Spirit for the society of saints, angels, and God forever. 
Earth had no power over me ; a view of the Redeemer of man 
quenched all my desires, save that of glorifying Him in my 
' body and spirit which are his.' By watching and prayer, I was 
enabled to live so as not to feel condemnation ; and if, in any 
case, I gave way to temptation, instead of sinking under doubts 
whether I had ever experienced religion, I ran immediately to 
the throne of grace, and, like a little child, lifting my guilty 
heart, implored forgiveness and help. And, to the honor of 
his name be it spoken, he caused me to see clearly my faults, 
and feel keenly my guilt ; and then, oh then ! his healing hand 
wiped off the guilt, removed the pain, and opened to my view a 
fountain of mercy, in the contemplation of which, the mind is 
lost in wonder, love and praise. I now felt the necessity of cul- 
tivating the fruits of the Spirit, — love, joy, peace, &c. In the 
inspired volume I clearly saw that ' holiness to the Lord' should 
be written upon all my thoughts, words and deeds. With 
pleasure and profit I meditated upon the parable of the husband- 
man, — the well-cultivated field, producing an hundred fold. 
Matt. 13. And I could not content myself with the idea of 
improving a part, and leaving a wide headland for briars and 
thorns; so I said within myself, Plough up to the fence — give no 
chance for either tares or thorns to grow. I began with my 
thoughts and words, and soon found that, whatever transpired 
before me, I could, by lifting my heart up to God in breathings 
of prayer, turn to the glory of God the good of myself and oth- 
ers. In so doing I found the graces of the Spirit began to appear 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES^ CONTINUED. 475 

and thrive ; humility supplanted pride, — zeal to do good to 
friends and foes took the place of prejudice, anger and resent- 
ment ; I exchanged ignorance for knowledge, and the fear of 
God raised me above the fear of man ; the thoughts of the last 
great day banished the dread of what man might say of me." 

Thus inducted into the profounder experimental knowledge 
of religion, it pleased God, in due time, to call him to teach oth- 
ers. During several years he labored as an exhorter and local 
preacher, travelling to and fro, in the intervals of his business 
engagements ; sometimes, as we have seen, into the remote 
parts of Vermont, and even Canada, and teaching the people, in 
their log-cabins, repentance towards God, and faith towards our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

In 1809 he was received into the New England Conference, 
and sent to Hallowell circuit. Me., where he labored with suc- 
cess. This year he also married his devoted wife, who became 
a distinguished helpmeet to him in his ministerial trials and 
labors, and whose sanctified life and great usefulness have been 
commemorated in a published memoir. In 1811 he was 
appointed to Danville circuit, Vt. " The circuit," he v^^rites, 
" was large, embracing sixteen towns, and was called a ' four- 
weeks' circuit.' Having about twenty-four regular appointments 
for preaching, and other occasional ones to attend to, besides vis- 
iting from house to house — Class-meetings and prayer-meet- 
ings, left us but little time for private improvement, or to stop for 
storms and bad going ; and, by the blessing of God, we rarely 
disappointed a congregation. The tears of the penitent, songs 
of the convert, joy of the saints, and the prosperity of Zion, 
encouraged us along through storm or calm, night or day, with 
cheerful steps." 

His appointment in 1812 was Barre circuit, Vt., where he 
labored indefatigably and with much success, and suffered not a 
little, also. Amidst the fatigues and privations of his Itinerant 
life in this then remote and mountainous circuit, his Journal 
affords many exceedingly entertaining and characteristic scenes. 
His preaching appointments were incessant, — his journeys, 
especially in winter, exhausting, and his wife in ill health. 



476 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

" For several weeks," he says, " I have travelled over the frozen 
ground from one to twenty-five miles, out and in, in a day, many 
of the- days, to meet my appointments ; and, for the want of 
money, my poor horse had to scrabble over the bad ways smooth 
shod. But I could say, The Lord is near ; he protects me in the 
dark and in the storm ; he is my shield and buckler, my strong 
tower and hiding-place. Glory to God for the sweet peace that 
flows down to me whilst in the pathway of duty. Being unwil- 
ling to neglect the church or my wife, I rode day and night to 
preach, &c., returning about midnight usually, and taking care 
of my feeble companion the rest of the night, whom the Lord 
and her parents had committed to my care, trusting in God for 
health and strength to carry me through. I desired to do every 
duty faithfully, so that, when called to give an account for the 
deeds done in the body, I might not be found guilty of betraying 
my trust, either with regard to the church of God or my dear 
family." 

Here is a scene which might have befitted the simplicity and 
piety of the patriarchal age, and an address which might have 
befitted one of the old Hebraic prophets. "We rose early, 
and had a melting season of devotion ; we had a cheering con- 
fidence in God. At eight o'clock in the evening our hearts were 
made glad. ^ ^ ^ ^ When my first-born son was put 
into my arms, I had the household called together, and addressed 
them thus : — ' Here is a little spark just lit up that will never 
go out ; the sun, moon and stars, will fade and cease to shine, 
when the worlds shall pass away and no place be found for 
them, — but this immortal spirit will live, and blaze, and burn 
in glory, surrounded with angels and saints, — or sink in black 
despair eternally ! Therefore, let us kneel down and commend 
him to God, and plead that he would preserve him from the 
evils that are in the world, or take him up to heaven.' After 
prayer, I carried him and put him into his mother's bosom, say- 
ing, ' Take this child, and train him up for God.' " 

Pressing his way onward through nearly all kinds of difficul- 
ties, he at last met with one which seemed formidable in the 
extreme for an Itinerant, but which he notices in the following 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 477 

characteristic style : " On the night of the 21st of May, I had 
my horse stolen. Lord, have mercy on the man or persons who 
stole him, and forgive him or them, and prepare us all for the 
final judgment ! " Such a man, however, could not be destitute 
of friends ; they provided for this exigency, and soon he was 
riding a new steed on his way to Conference, with a very con- 
genial and very like-minded man, the good Lewis Bates. 
These brief extracts furnish a better conception of the interest- 
ing character of this veteran Itinerant than could be given by 
pages of general remarks. 

His appointment in 1813 was Barnard circuit, Vt. The war 
raged, and much suffering prevailed. " Like Paul," he writes, 
" we were sometimes 'in want; ' one day I went in pursuit of 
food for my little family, but was obliged to return empty and 
with a heavy heart. But the Lord was better to me than all 
my fears. I found his word true which says, ' For your heav- 
enly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But 
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you.' Matt. 6 : 32, 33. On 
entering the house, my devoted and faithful wife said, ' God has 
sent relief, — a man who professes no religion has sent a boy 
with supplies for the present.' We wept, and prayed, and gave 
thanks, and partook of the sweet morsel. My heart said, ' The 
world is my parish, the church my home on earth, and God 
my portion forever.' " 

In 1814 he was sent to Pittstown circuit ; in 1815, Bristol ; 
1816, Durham, where he enjoyed great success, and gathered 
into the church more than one hundred members; 1817, Read- 
field, where a " general reformation took place ; " 1818, Bishop 
George called, in the Conference, for a volunteer for St. Croix; 
Mr. Newell offered himself, and was sent to the Calais circuit, 
St. Croix river. " The Lord was with us," he writes, " and gave 
us a glorious revival of religion." The next year he located, on 
account of ill health and domestic necessities ; he continued, 
however, to labor diligently in the church, and was instrumental 
of a fruitful revival at Hallowell, Me. After two years he 
rejoined his Itinerant brethren, and was sent to Thomaston cir- 



478 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

cuit. In 1822 he was appointed to Norridgewock ; 1823, Pitts- 
town ; 1824, Colambia and Dennisville ; 1825, Conference mis- 
sionary, and agent for Readfield Seminary ; 1826-7, Bethel ; 
1828-9, Kennebunk Port ; 1830, Kittery ; — all these appoint- 
ments were in Maine. In 1831 he was transferred to the New 
England Conference, and appointed to Brookfield circuit, where 
he continued two years ; 1833-4, Belchertown ; 1835, North- 
bridge and XJxbridge ; 1836, Hopkinton and Holliston ; 1837, 
Marlboro'; 1838, North Brookfield; 1839, Paxton ; 1840-1, 
Southbridge, — all in Massachusetts. 

At the New England Conference of 1842 he was returned super- 
annuated. He was now sixty-seven years of age, and had braved 
the hardest conflicts of the Itinerant field for thirty-six years. He 
had done faithful service, and exemplified the patient, self-sacri- 
ficing spirit of a " good soldier of Christ." It was fitting that he 
should repose himself in his tent a while, before the conflict with 
" the last enemy." 

Mr. Newell still lives, venerable with years, strong in faith, 
giving glory to God. He resides in Brookfield, amidst the asso- 
ciations of his native home. It would be superfluous to add any 
remarks on his amiable character, which has so visibly revealed 
itself in the course of our narrative. His serene piety, universal 
charity, religious trustfulness, facility of discourse and conversa- 
tion, and overflowing sympathy for all who sufler, have endeared 
him to the church generally. 

Edward Hyde's memory is still precious in the church. He 
was born in Norwich, Conn., March 31, 1786. His father was 
one of the earliest members of the Methodist society in that 
town, and a useful local preacher. Edward's education was 
such as to lead him in childhood to serious reflection, and in his 
seventeenth year, when a wide-spread revival prevailed in Nor- 
wich, he was converted to God ; " and thenceforward," writes 
one of his brothers,=^ " he kept his course steadily along, up to 
the day of his triumphant death." 

He immediately addicted himself to the personal efforts for 
the salvation of souls, which, in those days, were characteristic 

* G M. Hyde, Esq. 



CONTINUED. 479 

of almost all Methodists. " His custom," says Rev. Dr. Fisk, 
" was, for some time before he began to preach, to select some 
individual whom he knew to be serious, and continue to exhort 
him, to pray with and for him, and conduct him to meetings, 
until he could rejoice in hope. He would then take another ; 
and thus he continued, until he commenced his public min- 
istry."^ 

He began public labors as a local preacher in 1809, and soon 
after was summoned into the Itinerant work, by his Presiding 
Elder, Elijah R. Sabin. The separation of a young man from 
his family for the chivalric devotion of the travelling ministry 
was in those days an era in his life. With young Hyde and his 
family it was an occasion of pathetic interest. " This separa- 
tion," says Pres. Fisk, " from his father was the more painful, 
because the old gentleman had designed Edward to remain with 
him, and be the staff of his old age. Painful as it was, however, 
the father, for the sake of the cause, made the sacrifice willingly, 
and furnished his son with the means of joining the travelling 
connection. The Sabbath before he was to start on his work, 
the old gentleman delivered a sermon on the occasion. 'I never 
before,' says Mr. G. M. Hyde, ' saw my father so much affected.' 
Indeed, none but one who has passed through such a scene can 
fully enter into the feelings it produces. To part with a son 
under such circumstances, what parent but must feel ? With a 
heart deeply solicitous for the cause of God, and with bowels of 
affection yearning over a beloved son, the father on this occasion 
delivered, in behalf of the son to the people, and in his own 
behalf to the son, his solemn charge and valedictory. It proved 
the last parting ; for the following April, and before Edward 
returned, the father fell asleep in Christ. On the morning fol- 
lowing this interesting Sabbath, before any others of the family 
were up, except the father, Edward left. His heart, it seems, 
was too full to go through the accustomed ceremonies of part- 
ing, and he therefore availed himself of this early hour to leave 
the paternal dwelling. ' I saw him, from my chamber,' says the 
brother already quoted, ' as he started, before sunrise, upon the 

* Funeral sermon, by Rev. Dr, Fisk. 



480 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

work, from which he never desisted, till called off by his last 
sickness to lay down his body and his charge together.' But 
that last parting scene between the father and the son, who can 
describe ? There were none to witness it." 

In 1809 he was receiv.ed on trial by the New England Con- 
ference, and sent to Poplin and Salem circuit, N. H. His sub- 
sequent appointments were, in 1810, Readfield, Me.; 1811, 
Scituate circuit; 1812, Martha's Vineyard; 1813, Tolland; 
1814, Somerset, Bristol and Rhode Island; 1815, Warwick; 
1816, Pomfret; 1817, Ashburnham; 1818 and 1819, New Lon- 
don circuit; 1820 and 1821, Wellfleet. The four following 
years he superintended Boston district, after which, for four 
years, he presided over the New London district. In 1830 he 
was again placed on Boston district, and in 1831 he was sta- 
tioned at Wilbraham, and took charge of the steward's depart- 
ment of the Wesleyan Academy there. 

At nearly all these appointments he witnessed good results 
from his labors, and in some of them extensive revivals. " I 
have heard it stated," says Dr. Fisk, " and believe it to be cor- 
rect, that he rarely failed of having revivals on the circuits he 
travelled. According to the Minutes, he had a net gain, the 
first year he was on New London circuit, of 362 ; and the first 
year on Wellfleet circuit, 208. While on the districts, also, most 
of his years were years of quiet prosperity to the church. I 
recollect to have heard our venerable Bishop George bear testi- 
mony to Bro. Hyde's success as a minister of the Gospel. ' Bro. 
Hyde,' said the Bishop, 'is generally favored with gracious 
revivals, wherever he labors.' " 

Mr. Hyde's talents were respectable, but not preeminent. He 
was deeply devout, self-sacrificing, zealous, ready for any labor 
for the Gospel ; and these traits rendered his ministry always 
acceptable, notwithstanding a vocal defect, which at first could not 
but be disagreeable to the ears of his hearers. He was remarkable 
for his punctuality; and never lost an appointment, it is said, 
from the beginning to his last sickness, through care of his health. 
His widow said, that " In living with him twenty years, I never 
saw him angry, and never heard him speak an unpleasant word. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 481 

I never saw him light or trifling ; but he would often check this 
spirit in others. His motto was, to speak evil of no man. It 
has been a great satisfaction to me, in this my time of affliction, 
to reflect upon our peaceful union, and that through grace I was 
ever kept from opposition to his calling as an Itinerant minis- 
ter; although my afflictions and privations have been great. 
And this my dear husband realized in his dying hour. ' O,' 
said he, ' what comfort it affords me now, to think how pleas- 
antly we have spent our lives together!'" 

It would not be irrelevant to commemorate here, in a word, the 
peculiar and eminent devotion of this lady, who was a congenial 
helpmeet to him in his laborious ministerial life. " Her zeal 
for the cause of religion and Methodism, — for the awakening 
and conversion of sinners, — her warm sympathy for mourneis 
in Zion, and her tender solicitude for young converts, were," says 
one who knew her well,"^ " prominent traits in her character, 
and worthy of the best days of Methodism. Many now in 
heaven, or on their way thither, have been aided and cherished 
by her counsels and prayers. It is rare, in these days, to find a 
woman so earnest and efficient in the heavenly mission of saving 
souls." 

It was at Wilbraham that the author had the pleasure of form- 
ing an acquaintance with Mr. Hyde, and was privileged to wit- 
ness some of the latest scenes of his devoted life. He was at 
this time suffering under the eflfects of hemorrhage of the lungs; 
but so insidious was the disease, that not until within a week 
before his decease was he aware of its fatal character. The 
sudden transition from the hopefulness of life to the certainty 
of death had, however, no terror to him. He immediately 
resigned himself to the will of God with undisturbed composure, 
and even a rapturous appreciation of Christ's sufficiency for him 
in the extremity which was at hand. " O, the atonement I the 
glorious atonement!" he would exclaim, until his heart would 
seem ready to burst with joy and gratitude. Entire sanctifica- 
tion, as expounded by Wesley and his followers, had always 
been a favorite theme with him. It was now the subject of his 

* Rev. Prof. True. 

41 



482 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

continual and glowing discourse. On the last Sabbath which 
he spent out of heaven, the writer, when about to mount his 
horse to depart to a neighboring preaching appointment, was 
called to take his final leave of him ; he knelt by the sick bed, 
while the trembling hands of the dying saint were placed upon 
his head, and the solemn admonition given, with an indescriba- 
ble earnestness, " Preach holiness ! oh, preach holiness, holiness, 
holiness ! " " He stated," says Pres. Fisk, " to his companion 
that he had for years enjoyed that 'perfect love that casteth out 
fear.' And it was a doctrine which he delighted to dwell upon. 
He spake of it to almost all who came in, and seemed never 
weary in pressing it upon those who gathered round his bed. 
He had but one thing more that he desired on earth, he said, 
and that was to stand once more among his brethren in the min- 
istry, and especially in the New England Conference, and 
exhort them to holiness of heart and life, and urge them to 
preach holiness to the church. He seemed desirous especially 
to leave his dying testimony in favor of this doctrine to his 
brethren in the ministry — a rich legacy! a martyr's testi- 
mony ! " 

His death was triumphant. " Several," says Dr. Fisk, " who 
were in the habit of visiting him, stated that they could not make 
it seem like the apartment of a dying man. ' If God should 
offer me the world,' he said, 'and add to it two thousand worlds, 
I would not choose to go back to life.' At one time he thought 
himself dying, but revived again. The next day, a brother from 
the neighborhood called on him, and said, ' Well, Bro. Hyde, 
you are with us yet.' He replied, with a tone and emphasis the 
most natural and easy, — ' Yes ; I thought 1 should have gone 
home yesterday, but it seems I am to stay a day or two longer! ' 
He often shouted aloud the praises of God. Yea, he seemed to 
live in the very element of joy ; and in this happy frame he con- 
tinued day after day. His last words were, — ' The chariot is 
come .' ' — ' Don^t you see them .^ ' — ' Glory to God ! ' — ' Hal- 
lelujah ! ! ' and then, with a few motions of the lips, he gently 
breathed out his soul to God." 

Such an end is a befitting scene with which to end the series 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, CONTINUED. 483 

of our biographical sketches. Those of our first year concluded 
with the dying exclamation of the heroic Garrettson : " Holy, 
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Hallelujah, hallelujah!" 
Through the whole series we have seen these remarkable men 
disappearing, one after another, from their well-fought conflicts, 
with similar triumphs ; and here we close the list with the 
dying " Hallelujah " of the last one who comes within the limits 
of our narrative. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

REVIEW. — CONCLUSION. 

Success in Maine. — New Hampshire. — Vermont. 

Much success attended the labors of the present year. There 
were now twenty circuits in the Province of Maine. Method- 
ism had spread itself out into the remotest settlements. It was 
not numerically strong in any one locality, but almost univer- 
sally diffused ; and the germs of its rapid subsequent growth 
were generally planted. Twenty-five energetic men, headed 
by Soule and Beale, had traversed its villages and wildernesses 
during the year. Their prosperity had not equalled that of 
many of their fellow-laborers in other sections of Nev/ England. 
Their increase fell short of three hundred, though numerous 
revivals prevailed under their ceaseless labors ; but if it was yet 
the day of small things, it was the day of large and certain 
prospects, and they scattered the good seed with joyful hope of 
a harvest in due season, — a hope now realized by us, who be- 
hold their two districts converted into two Conferences, their 
twenty circuits and stations multiplied to a hundred and sixty, 
their twenty-five preachers to nearly two hundred, and their 
thirty-five hundred members to more than twenty-one thousand. 

Among the laborers in Maine the present year were Soule, 
Kibby, Virgin, Kilburn, Beale, Hillman, Newell, Jones and 
Fogg. The later success of Methodism in the State is not sur- 
prising, when we recall the men whose robust arms laid its 
foundations. 

Ebenezer F. Newell travelled Hallowell circuit. " Such," he 
says, "were my desires to go to Kennebec river, that I told my 
Presiding Elder I was confident we should have a reformation; 
and so it proved, — the second quarter the work began. In 
Augusta we had a most interesting Quarterly Meeting. The 



REVIEW. — CONCLUSION. 485 

Sacrament was administered on the green in front of the barn, 
where preaching had been attended. At the close of the Sacra- 
ment services, an invitation was given to penitent mourners 
to come forward ; and from every part of the ring formed by- 
spectators standing around they eagerly rushed forward and 
filled the seats (which were three or four in number, each from 
twenty to thirty feet long), of every class and age. They all 
bowed down and wept during a season of prayer, and those 
who did not come forward seemed almost persuaded to seek the 
Lord also. One young man told me that he looked to see who 
they could be that were thus humble ; and, to his surprise, he 
saw his own sister, with all her proud, gay dress, kneeling 
there ! He asked himself. Could pride lead her to do that ? 
And he felt constrained to answer, No ; it must be the power of 
God ! And I must be thus humble, he said to himself, or never 
go to heaven ! The sight of his eyes and his reflections affected 
his heart; and, as he told me, he had no rest from that time 
until he sought and found pardon and peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. I baptized him, and he was called of 
God to preach the Gospel from that time. The reformation 
continued, and spread rapidly from Fairfield through Waterville, 
Sidney, Augusta, Hallowell and Gardner." 

On the New Hampshire district, a band of twelve itinerants, 
commanded by Martin Ruter, spread the truth with success 
over their nine circuits, from Massachusetts to beyond the Can- 
ada line, and from Maine to the interior of Vermont. Bates, 
Blake, Taylor, Bishop, Clark, and other similar men, were 
among them, — men of few pretensions, but staunch, laborious, 
and always successful. They reported many displays of the 
power of the Spirit, and a gain of about two hundred and fifty, 
besides the numerous converts who had, as usual, been gathered 
into other communions. The early laborers of the New Hamp- 
shire district, like those of Maine, looked hopefully to the 
future. They knew that the great vital doctrines of Christian- 
ity which they promulged through the land could not fail of 
a general popular reception, and a profound popular impression ; 
and they were not disappointed. The three or four evangelists 
41# 



486 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

who still remain from the year under review now behold their 
original district changed into a large and thriving Conference, 
their nine appointments converted into three districts and eighty- 
six circuits and stations, their little corps of twelve preachers 
increased to more than a" hundred, and their membership of 
sixteen hundred and seventy-three augmented to more than 
nine thousand. 

The Vermont district was travelled this year by Thomas 
Branch, and comprised seven circuits and ten laborers, among 
whom were Sias, Wells, Steel and Gary. They traversed the 
country from the base of the Green Mountains to New Hamp- 
shire, and from Massachusetts to beyond the British boundary ; 
one of their circuits lay largely within Canada, and had a 
Canadian name. Throughout this ample field they witnessed 
the outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and while they replenished 
other churches with the abundant fruits of their labors, they 
gathered into their own more than two hundred and sixty mem- 
bers. It was still with them the day of small things ; but they 
also labored for the future, and the germs which they planted, 
and so assiduously nurtured, have grown until they shake like 
Lebanon. Vermont has since been one of the most fertile fields 
of our cause. The district of Thomas Branch has grown into 
an Annual Conference, with three large districts ; its seven cir- 
cuits into about seventy appointments; its ten preachers to 
eighty, and its less than nineteen hundred members to nearly 
eight thousand. 

Young Gary's labors on the Barre circuit excited special 
interest. His extreme youth attracted the people ; his congre- 
gations were crowded, and the simple but powerful ministration 
of the truth directly from the Bible, and his own experience, could 
not fail of eflfect. " Many," he writes, "were led to Christ." 

Solomon Sias labored with success on Athens circuit. " This," 
he writes, " was a two-weeks' circuit, the place where John 
Brodhead admitted over eighty members, on probation, at one 
time, when he formed the first Methodist society in the town. 
The Lcw'd visited the circuit with some refreshing showers of 
j^iiie. -*Iii ^Amens a revival commenced under the following 



• REVIEW. — CONCLUSION. 487 

circumstances : A family, the united heads of which were both 
members of the M. E. church, and who had several children, 
had lost much of their spiritual enjoyment, and left the family 
altar without the morning and evening offering. One of their 
children, quite young, sitting, in the evening, apparently very 
thoughtful, turned to his father and asked permission to pray. 
The family knelt, and he prayed fervently for his parents and 
the children of the household, and then for the people of the 
place. And truly from the mouth of this child God did perfect 
praise. It gave rise to a reformation in the neighborhood, in 
which about twenty souls experienced religion, and most of them 
became members of the M. E. church. In Acton, a small 
town adjoining Athens, there was a revival, and a new Class 
formed. Forty-five members were received during the year." 

The Boston district was superintended this year by George 
Pickering. Some of the most effective men of the Conference 
were among his laborers, — Brodhead, Metcalf, Sabin, Hunger, 
Merwin, Webb, Merrill, Hyde and Kent, — but they made no 
remarkable progress. Revivals occurred on the district, and the 
churches were invigorated, but the aggregate gains were short 
of a hundred. Sabin and Hunger occupied the metropolitan 
churches, which now comprised a membership of nearly three 
hundred and fifty ; Lynn included about two hundred and fifty ; 
Nantucket more than a hundred and fifty; Newport, fifty-five, — 
a small number yet, but it had doubled during the year. The 
whole district included about twenty-one hundred members. 
Such was its zigzag course, extending over portions of the pres- 
ent territories of the Providence, New England and New Hamp- 
shire Conferences, that no comparative view of the later pros- 
perity of the church in the same limits can be given, — but great 
has been its advancement. The Boston appointments alone 
have since almost equalled the numerical strength of the original 
district ; and the present membership of Boston and its imme- 
diate vicinity amounts to nearly one-third more than the aggre- 
gate membership of the whole district at the period under 
review. Methodism has had severe trials, and formidable pecu- 
niary struggles, within this section of New England. Only 



488 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. * 

by the most strenuous endeavors have its churches been 
planted and its chapels erected ; but its difficulties have been 
constantly abating; its pecuniary capacity and the refresh- 
ing sense of security have been continually strengthening, and it 
has, scattered through almost all the numerous towns and vil- 
lages of the original Boston district, thriving societies and chap- 
els, which, by their tasteful simplicity and eligible sites, are 
ornaments of the scenery. 

Elijah Hedding and his band of thirteen evangelists on New 
London district spread the word of life with power and great 
success. Their circuits were but seven in number, but these 
extended through large portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island. Hoyt, Lindsay, Bonney, and their colleagues, 
cultivated this spacious field with unceasing toil ; they reported 
nearly twenty-one hundred members, and gained during the 
year about three hundred, — no insignificant accession for those 
days. The soil then sown with the seed of the Gospel, and not 
without tears, has since been reaped in joy, and has yielded 
abundant fruit. The present New London district contains 
more than five thousand Methodists, though its territorial range 
hardly equals that of one of its original circuits. Local causes 
imposed upon its churches, especially in Connecticut, great diffi- 
culties, and many trials still beset its struggling societies; bat it 
is rapidly emerging from them. Its chapels have been lately 
undergoing the renovation, and its societies the invigoration, 
which have so generally characterized Methodism in New Eng- 
land, within the last twenty-five years. 

The Rhinebeck district, six of the eight circuits of which were 
within the Eastern States, was superintended by Aaron Hunt, 
under whom fourteen preachers labored. Some of them were 
men of decided force and usefulness ; Joseph Crawford, Elijah 
Woolsey, Phineas Cook, Samuel Cochrane, Laban Clark and 
Lewis Pease, were among them. Their travels were mostly in 
a new and rugged part of the country, their labors were great, 
and their privations and sufferings severe. Their present year 
was not a prosperous one numerically ; their aggregate member- 
ship was short of four thousand, — there were no gains, though 



REVIEW. — CONCLUSION. 489 

no decrease. The adjacent Ashgrove district, under the charge 
of Wm. Anson, enjoyed better success. It included eight cir- 
cuits, six of which were wholly, or in part, in New England. Its 
Itinerant corps consisted of fourteen men, among whom there 
were, besides Anson, William Swayze, Marvin Richardson, John 
Robertson, Phineas Rice and Samuel Draper. The membership 
of the district amounted to about four thousand. It had increased, 
during the year, more than six hundred. 

The tw^o New England circuits on the New York district — 
Middletown and Redding — were blessed with some prosperity. 
The former reported a small increase ; the latter was travelled 
by Hibbard, who says, "We had a good revival of religion in 
different places. The net increase was over one hundred and 
fifty, but I presume that more than three hundred experienced 
religion. Many joined other denominations. So that it was a 
time of ingathering of souls." 

The entire membership of the New England Conference 
proper, as reported at the end of the present year, was 11,220, — 
it had gained during the year 1124. The total number of 
Methodists in the New England States (including those who 
pertained to the Ne^v York Conference) amounted to 17,592 ; 
the total increase of the year had been 1794. The whole mem- 
bership in the United States was 174,560, — the whole increase 
of the year, 11,527. 

Thus the first decade of the century ended, with Methodism 
spread out and established in all the New England States. It 
embraced one extensive Conference, and a large portion of a sec- 
ond. The 4 districts with which it began the century had 
increased to about 8 ; "^ its 32 circuits to 71 ; its 58 preachers 
to 114, and its 5839 members to 17,592. These statistics 
exhibit a remarkable progress, even if we take not into account 
the quite inauspicious circumstances of the denomination in the 
Eastern States. In ten years its districts had doubled, its cir- 
cuits considerably more than doubled, its ministry lacked but 
two of being doubled, and its membership had more than trebled. 

* We say about eight, because the Rhinebeck and Ashgrove districts lay partly in 
New York, though mostly in New England. 



490 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

It had gained, in these ten years, 11,753 members, — an average 
increase of more than 1175 each year, or nearly 100 per month. 
Its self-sacrificing preachers, who, in their vast labors and great 
sufferings, were indeed " a spectacle unto the world and to angels 
and to men," might well have exclaimed, in the language of the 
Apostle to the Gentiles, — " Thanks be unto God, which always 
causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor 
of his knowledge by us in every place." There was no consid- 
erable section of New England which was not now penetrated or 
compassed by their circuits ; and but few localities which had 
not occasionally, if not regularly, heard the voice of their minis- 
trations. And that voice was a jubilatic one, — it proclaimed 
among our hills and valleys the great, soul-saving, elementary 
truths of Christianity, with the demonstration of the Spirit and 
power. Such men, with such elements of moral force, could not 
but succeed. Their success is not a mystery. The only problem 
of their history is, that a class of public men so unique, so uni- 
formly heroic in spirit and gigantic in energy, so persistent 
against all odds, and so calmly and confidently self-conscious of 
success, and of even great historical destinies, should be found 
among us, and should year after year continue to prosecute their 
unparalleled labors by the most simple machinery, and with 
scarcely any appreciable means of support. A scheme of evan- 
gelical labor, like that of the primitive Methodist Itinerancy, — 
involving the same incessant preaching, and daily travelling, and 
small remuneration, and the same class of agents, — would, if 
Tpm^osed a priori, have been considered the absurdity of an extrav- 
agant fanaticism. The men whom we have been commemo- 
rating wrought out into an energetic and historical reality what 
the logic of the philosopher and the sagacity of the statesman 
would have pronounced impracticable to human nature. Down 
to the date at which we now, v/ith truest admiration, take our 
leave of them, most of them denied themselves the enjoyments 
of domestic life, and remained single, that they might the more 
utterly consecrate themselves to their labors. And notwith- 
standing the many inconveniences of their ministerial charges, 



REVIEW. — CONCLUSION. 491 

no trait of their ecclesiastical system has been more tenaciously 
retained, even in our day, than its Itinerancy. 

The example of their leaders, doubtless, contributed much to 
the energy and self-sacrificing devotion of the body of the min- 
istry. No Methodist bishop had yet been married. Asbury, 
Whatcoat and M'Kendree, continued through life without a 
home. They traversed the nation ; they preached daily as they 
went, in churches, court-houses, kitchens, barns and forests. 
Their " allowance " was no larger than that of the humblest 
Itinerant. Except M'Kendree, they had no property when they 
died, save that which they carried about their persons on their 
routes. It was impossible that the militant ministry of Method- 
ism, thus officered, could be otherwise than heroic and invin- 
cible. 

More potent than this noble example was the influence of a 
single great truth, of which the preceding pages have given fre- 
quent illustrations, and for which these extraordinary men held 
themselves especially responsible. Their constant use of the 
Scriptures had familiarized their minds with the phrases "sancti- 
fication," " perfection," "perfect love," &c. Sainted men, not 
only of the Anglican but of the Papal church, of whom Fenelon 
as, in both his writings and his life, an illustrious example, had 
educed from these terms a preeminent standard of Christian life, 
especially of the inward life of Christianity. They had given a 
specific and even a technical character to the words. Their opin- 
ions, ardent with the very sanctity of the Gospel, and aspiring 
to what most men deemed an altogether preterhuman virtue, 
were rendered familiar to the Methodist Itinerants throughout 
the world, in the writings of Law, Fletcher and Wesley. Every 
one of them, at his reception into the travelling ministry, had 
avowed his belief in the doctrine, and that he was " groaning 
after," if he had not already attained, this exalted grace. Per- 
haps no single fact affords a fuller explanation of the marvellous 
success of Methodism. Wesley had observed and declared to 
them, that wherever it was preached revivals usually prevailed.^^ 
It was the great potential idea of Methodism. It not only 

* Works, vol. VI., p. 761, and vn., p. 181. 



492 MEMORIALS OF METHODISM. 

gave it life and energy by~ filling its congregations with devout 
and transforming aspirations, but it was the precise sentiment 
needed as the basis of its ministry. Nothing short of entire 
self-sacrifice could consist with the duties and privations of that 
ministry ; and according to their doctrines of perfection, entire 
consecration was the preliminary of entire sanctification. These 
holy men, then, in making an entire public sacrifice of them- 
selves, did so as a part of an entire consecration to God, for the 
purpose of their own entire personal sanctification. What ideal 
of ministerial character and devotion could be more sublime or 
more effective ? And this ideal they realized in the exceeding 
labors and purity of their lives, and the martyr-like triumphs of 
their deaths. They have transmitted the great doctrine to us 
with its simple scriptural purity unmarred by the extravagances 
which have befallen it in other hands. They found not its per- 
sonal exemplification by themselves incompatible with a gen- 
erous enjoyment of such comforts of life as were within their 
reach, nor with that happy humor which we have repeatedly 
mentioned, and which relieved not a little the peculiar vexations 
of their mode of life. Monkish austerity was very seldom found 
among them, and then only as the result of personal idiosyn- 
crasies, — not of their Methodistic character. If they we^^ 
entirely consecrated to religion, they were, none the less, large-> 
hearted, liberal-minded, courageous and generally cheerful men; 
and their religious consecration was the basis of their noble vir- 
tues. We close these humble records of them with emotions 
which it would be difficult to express. May their memory be a 
savor of life unto life in the church, through the ages to come ! 



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